His Motto as Heir - Ich Dien - is dropped in favour of Dieu et Mon Droit and Nemo me impune lacessit.
The main question in most people's minds was the style of the Crown to be adopted. Queen Elizabeth II changed it from a Tudor Crown, favoured by her immediate male predecessors, to a more realistic representation of St Edward's Crown. With the announcement of His Majesty's Royal Cypher on 26th September by the College of Arms, the speculation ended, and the Tudor style Crown does appear to be confirmed to be that preferred by male monarchs. (Personally, I always viewed it to be a fallacy. But I was evidently misguided.) A representation of the Scottish Crown from the Honours of Scotland (and the Crown placed on Her late Majesty's coffin in St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh) will be used on the Cypher in Scotland, presumably confirmed by Lord Lyon King of Arms. There will be no major changes overnight, though.
The next to change is Camilla who is now Queen Consort. The changes to her heraldry reflect more the changes to her husband's as mentioned above. As Queen Consort, she does take on the full Crown like her husband. This resolves the potential problem of what she could possible have born as Princess Consort.
Her Majesty's Banners are correspondingly amended as below. As Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla was created Royal Lady of the Garter by Her late Majesty at the beginning of this year. She was installed and actually took the place of the late Duke of Edinburgh in St George's Chapel, Windsor. This was shown in the coverage of The Queen's funeral. Also shown was Camilla's Banner above her Stall as Duchess of Cornwall with her family Arms marshalled with those of Charles as the Prince of Wales. I presume that this will be changed.
It is not known whether Camilla actually made use of a specific Standard as Duchess of Cornwall in daily life. Whilst it would not have been impossible, it is probable that she would have used the version with the Ermine Border. Unless anyone knows any differently...
The title Prince of Wales, however, is conferred at the choice of the Monarch and, whilst in practise is carried by a male heir, he does not necessarily have to be the eldest surviving son. It can be the eldest surviving grandson, as in the case of King George III, whose father Frederick Prince of Wales predeceased his father in turn, King George II.
As such, King Charles III decided to announce in his televised speech, the day after his Mother passed away, that William and Catherine were Prince and Princess of Wales. William and Catherine's Coats of Arms changed to the plain Label, dropping the red Spencer escallop. Again, it is currently believed that the style of the Arms is of a simple version without any specific announcement yet.
Both also use the Crown of the Heir with one simple Arch, although Catherine also changes the Coronet around the neck of her white Hind supporter from that of a grandchild of the Monarch to that of a child (in law) of the Monarch.
Immediately at the demise of Her late Majesty, William and Catherine also became Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland. William has taken on the Arms of the Heir to the Scottish Throne. It is not yet know whether Catherine will make use or be entitled to her own version of Scottish Arms.
The first expected change, which hasn't yet been announced, is for Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex who now becomes the son of a monarch. His Arms are expected to change accordingly. This was confirmed by the College of Arms back in 2002. (Please see this link College of Arms) As all grandchildren of a monarch (apart from his elder brother William as direct heir), Harry was granted a five-pointed Label when he became 18 in September 2002. His is 'charged' with red Spencer Escallops, in memory of his Mother, on the first, third and fifth points. Now that Harry has become the son of the Monarch, his Label should be reduced to three Points and it was agreed that the two blank Points would disappear, leaving three, each of them charged with a red Escallop. |
The illustration above from Sodacan does, however, show an 'upgrade' in Harry's Coronet. Gone are the external Strawberry Leaves for the son of the heir and in are the full set of Crosses Pattée and Fleurs-de-Lys for the child of a monarch.
Whilst it has been highly publicised that the Duke of Sussex is no longer a working Royal and no longer uses the rank Your Royal Highness, he is legally His Royal Highness the Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. His wife legally remains HRH Meghan the Duchess of Sussex. Their children, in turn, legally become, as grandchildren of a monarch, HRH Prince Archie of Sussex and HRH Princess Lilibet of Sussex. However, no official announcement has been made, and Harry and his children remain The Duke of Sussex, Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor and Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor in the Line of Succession on the Royal Family's website.
The other expected change which has not been announced is for HRH The Price Edward, Earl of Wessex and Forfar. At the time of his marriage to Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999, he was granted the title of Earl with the provision that he would be granted the Dukedom of Edinburgh on the demise of both his parents. This seemed appropriate considering Edward's involvement in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme. (Also, a little highlighted fact is that 'Earl' is or at least was one of Edward's nicknames, coming from the initials of his first names - Edward Anthony Richard Louis.)
As it happened, HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh died first and, under the Grant of 1947, the title went to his first-born son, Charles. With the death of The Queen and Charles's elevation to King, the title 'merged with the Crown' and therefore became available to be granted anew. Like the confirmation of Camilla as Queen Consort and the naming of Prince William as Prince of Wales, it would have made sense to me if Edward had been granted the Dukedom of Edinburgh on the visit of the new King to the Scottish Parliament, in Edinburgh, on his his Accession Tour of the United Kingdom. This, however, did not happen and so we are awaiting news.
This may have an impact should Edward and Sophie chose to be granted Arms. Lady Louise would therefore legally become HRH Princes Louise of Edinburgh (with her brother becoming HRH Prince James of Edinburgh) and as she became 18 shortly before Christmas last year, she would be entitled to a Grant of Arms. Again, this has to be awaited.
Finally, something which also happened automatically, but which has no bearing on titles or Arms, is the fact that HRH Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, elder daughter of the Duke of York, becomes a Counsellors of State under the Regency Act. With the Accession of King Charles III, everyone basically moved up a place and Princess Beatrice now fills the gap as she becomes the fourth adult in line to the Throne. Counsellors of State are authorised to carry out most official duties in the absence of the Sovereign due to illness or travel abroad. Day-to-day support of the Sovereign will, in all probability, continue to be given by HRH The Princess Royal and TRH the Earl and Countess of Wessex, who have (except the Countess) previously acted as Counsellors of State but who are now further down the Line of Succession.
Please remember that these are still relatively early days and matters are subject to development, especially in the run-up to the expected Coronation.