Changes and possible changes to Royal heraldry & vexillology

Pre 1953 Royal Coat of Arms with Tudor Crown.
Compare to variant used by Elizabeth II
 Credit Sodacan CC BY-SA 3.0

 With the sad passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II last month and the accession of HM King Charles III to the throne there will be some changes to royal symbols across the United Kingdom as well as the Commonwealth Realms. Now that the mourning period for the late Queen has passed I think it is appropriate to take a look at some of the heraldic changes. First and perhaps the most important as this will affect all Royal heraldry outside of Scotland is the crown (within Scotland the ancient Scots Crown is used on Royal heraldry). The St Edwards Crown we are all used to seeing on badges, cyphers, coats of arms and other symbols will change to the Tudor Crown. often referred to as the 'King's Crown' this was the crown used by George VI, Edward VIII, George V, and Edward VII. Now it was not a certainty that the crown would change, the choice of crown is up to the King. But when the new cypher of the King was published it featured the Tudor Crown which seems to confirm that the Tudor Crown will be used from now on. 

I confess I was slightly surprised at this as I was half expecting the King to decide to keep the St Edwards crown. Both out of a sense of constancy and practicality as this will be a major change in branding across the Commonwealth, affecting everything from military cap badges to post vans, and courts to passports.

Commonwealth Standards

Another change will be Royal Standards. While the Royal Standard of the UK will remain the same for it is simply a heraldic banner the same is not true of those used in the some of the Commonwealth Realms. The personal flags that the Late Elizabeth II used in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica all made use of the device used on her personal flag. This was a crowned letter 'E' within a wreath of roses. This was something a lot of heraldry fans disliked as the banner of arms by itself represented the monarch. Perhaps now that we have a new King this will be dropped from the Royal Standards of the Commonwealth Realms. 

If not though these are my proposals for those realms in which the King has his own unique standard. In all these cases I put the flag in an ermine border. My thinking here is that the flags of members of the Royal Family be distinguished by an ermine border. Whereas the Governor General could use a banner without an ermine border. I've also used the full cypher as a crowned 'C' will look an awful lot like the monogram of the Queen Consort. I've deliberately chosen not to use the roses used in the personal flag of Queen Elizabeth II,

Proposed King's flag for Canada.
Like the flags of other Royal Family members the cypher is within a garland of maple leaves

Proposed King's flag for use in Australia 

Proposed King's flag for use in New Zealand 
note use of ferns, around cypher

Proposed King's flag for use in Jamaica

As head of the Commonwealth Queen Elizabeth II used a flag that was designed to represent her as a person rather than the monarch of a realm or nation. As Prince of Wales never used such a flag so I am not sure he will feel the need to use one as King. If he does I thought of one on similar lines to that of his mother.

It is simply a blue flag with his cypher. I didn't use the roses his mother used. Given this is more personal I thought a rope circle symbolising his naval background might be more appropriate.

The Queen Consort

Another change is that as well as a new King we have a new Consort  (the title Queen Consort is used in this post to avoid confusion with the Late Queen and because although used in the past at the time if writing it is unclear if the title 'Queen' will be used). The consort of the monarch is the only royal spouse entitled to use their own standard (other spouses use the Royal Standard for members of the Royal Family without a personal standard). For Queen Consorts this is a banner of their coat of arms which is the arms of their husband  impaled with either their own or their father's arms. Hence the Queen Consorts Royal Standard will be the Royal Arms impaled with the arms of the Shands of Craig, Aberdeenshire. 

Standard of  the Queen Consort
Credit: Fry1989 CC BY-SA 4.0

Will there be seperate flags for Commonwealth Realms?  It is probably unlikely that the Queen Consort will travel to any of the Commonwealth realms without the King and so negating the need to use a unique flag. However I've had ago at throwing together some proposals. First is is the Shand arms impaled with the Royal Arms in right to the appropriate Commonwealth Realm.

 

Proposed Queen Consort's flag for use in Canada

Proposed Queen Consort's flag for use in Australia

Proposed Queen Consort's flag for use in New Zealand

Proposed Queen Consort's flag for use in Jamaica

Another option is to use the relevant Royal Standard and replace the King's Cypher with Camilla's monogram however I think that would be indistinguishable from the Royal Standard itself.  

Personally I think this shows the merits of not defacing the banners with cyphers. 

Other Members of the Royal Family

Something that I haven't heard mentioned or read anywhere is what this means for the coat of arms of the children of the King. 

Traditionally children of the Sovereign  and the first heir apparent use the Royal Coat of Arms differenced with a label of Three Points and other grandchildren of the Sovereign use the Royal Coat of Arms differenced with a label of five points. The points of the label being differenced by a heraldic charge usually a charge associated with the maternal line. According to Wikipedia (so take it with a grain of salt) HRH Prince William of Wales is already using the Royal Coat of Arms differenced with a label of three points.

arms currently used by HRH the Prince of Wales
Credit: Lobsterthermidor, CC BY-SA 3.0

This is not the arms used by previous Princes of Wales, which had an inescutcheon of the arms of Wales. The King was quick to announce that Prince William will become the Prince of Wales and he is already being referred to by that title. However he has not yet been formally invested as Prince of Wales or been granted any amendments to his coat of arms and that is not likely to happen until after the coronation. So we will probably see the inescutcheon granted along with the various badges and arms of the prince of Wales and Heir Apparent either before or immediately after the investiture of the Prince of Wales.

Arms of Prince of Wales 1917-2022
Credit: Sodacan, CC BY-SA 3.0

Another change could be in the coat of arms of the Duke of Sussex. Presently Prince Harry uses the Royal Arms differenced with a label of five points with the outer and centre point charged with an escallop (reference to the Spencer Arms). A label of five points is of course traditional for a grandchild of the Sovereign, but the Duke is now a child of the Sovereign. So this could change to a label of three points.  In such a case I would propose charging the outer labels as a single escallop on the central point was used by his brother.

proposed arms for Duke of Sussex

These changes would of course be reflected on the arms of their spouses. 

Seals

The royal seals of the United Kingdom are four things that will change. The royal seals are affixed to legislation when they receive Royal Ascent, these are the Great Seal of the Realm (used for Acts of Parliament), the Great Seal of Scotland (used for Acts of the Scottish Parliament), The Great Seal of Northern Ireland (used for Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly) and the Seal of Wales (Acts of Senedd Cymru). When a monarch passes away new seals are made and the old ones are decommissioned by being defaced by a hammer. 

All the seals feature an image of the monarch either enthroned or on horseback with heraldry on the reverse.

This is unlikely to change, although in the cases for the Northern Ireland and Welsh seals it would be a good opportunity to update the heraldry. Under George V and George VI (and presumably Elizabeth II)the reverse of the Great Seal of Northern Ireland featured royal arms with an inescutcheon of a red cross of gold field from the arms of Ulster. I would propose a variant of the Royal coat of arms with the heraldry of the Kingdom of Ireland:

proposed NI variant of Royal Coat of Arms

It features the Irish harp in the first and fourth quarters. The historic crest of Ireland on the hem and the Order of St Patrick as well as a compartment of shamrock. The supporters feature an Irish Elk and British lion bearing the flag of St Patrick and the aforesaid red cross on gold field. 

Something similar could be done on the Welsh Seal. The arms of Wales could be given dragon supporters and placed on the reverse allowing the image of the monarch to take up the entire obverse.

proposed coat of arms of Wales
credit: SuperPanetone Reddit

Royal Engagement

Following yesterday's news of the engagement between HRH Prince Henry of Wales (aka Prince Harry) and Meghan Markle, there has been much conversation on the matter. Where will the wedding take place, what will the dress be etc etc However I have been wondering what coat of arms Meghan Markle will use as a member of the Royal Family?
Usually she would impale her arms or her father's arms impaled with Prince Harry's. 
I am not aware if she or her father are entitled to arms so I thought I would have ago at designing a marital coat of arms:

 I read Wikipedia and one or two newspaper articles on the subject both of which are not always the most reliable sources. However as the news only broke yesterday this was all I had time for, so I might return to the subject later and add to or adjust the design.
A quick google search for "Markle Coat of Arms" reveals designs that seem to predominantly feature red an white bars, also according to Wikipedia Meghan Markle is descended from John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford who used a blazon of "barry of six ermine and gules:"

I also read in the Daily Mail that Meghan's German ancestors used a blue coat of arms with a gold feather (or is it a quill?) between two fleur de lis, this also seems to be generic arms associated with the German name Markle:

I combined the elements from these arms into a single unique blazon for Meghan. It keeps the ermine and keeps the feather between the fleur de lis, I also think the red white stripes in a blue border gives it a bit of an American look which i think is appropriate given Meghan is a proud a mixed-race American.

The longest reigning monarch

Today HM Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest reigning monarch in history, as well as expressing my own personal congratulations, I want to write about the flags I have seen today, as it was what you might call a day of flag waving.
The Queen didn't want to make a fuss and it was business as usual attending to her duties. Today she opened the newly built Boarders Railway in Scotland. The crowds that always seem to greet the queen wherever she goes were naturally waving both national flags of the UK and of Scotland. But most interesting to me was the royal banners used on the vehicles transporting her. As can be seen here the car that took her to Edinburgh Station flew the royal standard (Scottish variant):

Nothing to unusual about that. From Edinburgh she took a train ride on the Boarders Railway stopping at two stations to formally open the railway. The train hauled by historic steam engine named 'Union of South Africa' flew the Ancient Royal Banner of Scotland.

Heraldically speaking this flag is still a royal banner and so this use is proper and correct from a heraldry viewpoint, But in practice this is unusual. The Crown does still use the Ancient Royal Banner but it is usually flown over royal residences in Scotland when the monarch is not present (being replaced by the royal standard when she is), or by representatives of the monarch like Lord Lieutenants or the Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland (currently twinned with the office of First Minister). So for it to be used to signify the presence of the Queen is interesting.
South of the boarder a small procession of vessels of different shapes and sizes sailed up the Thames to the Houses of Parliament,  past the HMS Belfast which fired a salute as the sailed by and under tower bridge (which was raised). Among the vessels was the Royal Barge 'Gloriana'. She flew a red ensign as her ensign,, from the jack staff a red pennant with 'Gloriana' in gold lettering. From the vessel's cabin she flew the flags of the Home Nations:
St George's Cross for England.

St Andrew's Cross for Scotland:

The red dragon for Wales:

And St Patrick's Saltire for Northern Ireland (because that represents the provence in the Union Jack):

These are the normal flags flown from the barge and unchanged since the Diamond Jubilee in 2012. But I noticed two other flags that I have not seen used on the barge before. The Ancient Royal Banner of Scotland already discussed and the Medieval royal banner of England the three lion passants on a red field. Very unusual to see the latter in formal use.:

An interesting array of flags to mark the passing of an interesting moment in history.

Princess Charlotte of Cambridge

Although members of the Royal Family don't usually receive a grant of arms until they come of age (18) I thought it might be fun to celebrate the new royal birth by designing a possible coat of arms for the daughter of the Baron and Baroness of Carrickfergus (the Northern Irish title of Prince William and Kate).
First a little bit about how the variants of the royal arms granted to members of the Royal Family work. Children of the monarch use the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom defaced with three labels, Grand Children of the monarch have five labels. The exception is the eldest heir of the heir apparent (Prince of Wales) who uses three labels. In each individual coat of arms the labels bear distinctive insignia, to differentiate the arms. These can be all sorts of symbols, the most common are anchors, roses, thistles, red lions, red crosses (St Georges Cross), seashells and even hearts. Wives of Princes use the arms of their husband impaled with either the arms of their father or the arms they used before marriage (depending on if she was an armiger or not).

The arms of  Prince William and Kate

The coat of arms of Duke of Cambridge has three labels, the centre one bearing a seashell, the arms of the Duchesse is the same except impaled with the coat of arms of her father.
My first idea was to place the red seashell of her father in the centre label of the Princess' coat of arms, The flanking labels bear the acorn from her mother's arms.

The diamond shape is a lozenge shield, which is usually born by women.
Another proposal uses all three acorns, alternating with hearts:

All Comments are Welcome

Richard III

This week sees the reburial of the remains of King Richard III of England and France, Lord of Ireland  (to use the titles he had and claimed), was the last plantagenet King of England, and the last English monarch to be killed in battle (although only two English Kings have ever been killed in battle the first being Harold I at Hastings in 1066). King Richard was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 during the Wars of the Roses. He personally charged Henry Tudor (who would become Henry VII of England) killing his standard bearer (Henry VII's standard forms the basis of the modern flag of Wales) before he fell from his horse and was killed.

His mortal remains were quickly buried at Greyfriars in Leicester, however this friary was destroyed by Henry VIII during the English Reformation, and the King's remains were lost. There was even a legeand (now disproven) that the remains thrown off a near by bridge into the River Soar. In August 2012 an archeology survey conducted by the University of Leicester, the Richard III Society and city council  in a car park found the bones of a male, who suffered from Scoliosis and various severe head wounds, under a parking space that was oddly enough marked "R.". After scientific study and research including DNA testing, it was confirmed these were the bones of Richard III.

The parking space under which Richard III was buried,
complete with a portrait and banner left by admirers
possibly Richard III Society members 

In this latest part of the King's story the first use of flags was immediately after his bones were removed from the car park. The box in which they were placed was draped in the English Royal Banner (1406-1603). Many of the team were reluctant to do this because they felt it would be inappropriate as the identity had not yet been confirmed at this stage, but did so on the insistence of the Richard III Society representatives. Fortunately the bones were confirmed as those of King Richard.

"The Return of the King" was on Sunday when the remains were transported from the University of Leicester to Leicester Cathedral via Bosworth field where he was killed, with a short ceremony at each of the three places. This unusual procession is of interest to those interested in flags and heraldry.
On leaving the University a Royal British Legion Colour Part lowered their flags as the hearse passed.
The senior member of the Royal Family at Sunday's event was HRH Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester (the same title Richard III held before becoming King)  his standard would have been used to mark his presence at the university. His flag is the Royal standard with five white labels alternating between a red cross and red lion passant:

At Bosworth field Richard's Coffin was pulled by a Army Cadets who's sponsor unit was 9th/12 Royal Lancers and as such the coffin guards carried lances with traditional red and white lance pennants.

As seen the King's coffin was not draped in his banner, but it was decorated by his livery colours. At Bosworth Field a reproduction of Richard III's battle standard fluttered in the wind:
A standard's prime purpose in modern heraldry is to mark a headquarters(I guess main postal address might be the modern equivalent lol) meaning that unlike a banner the armiger doesn't need to be there in person for it to be used. In England Standards have the national flag at the hoist, and is usually divided into two livery colours. Richard's standard should be about 7.5 metres in length. The tail is split into two rounded ends and the flag normally depicts a crest and/or other heraldic badges.

King Richard's standard bears the white rose emblem of the Royal House of York to which he belonged, and a white boar which was his own personal badge, this along with his red and blue livery would have been worn by his followers.
A religious precision in period costume preceded the coffin, They carried various flags and flag related items. These included heralds and monks carrying vexilloids of Richards arms.

The monks also carried religious flags which bore the impersonations of saints and other religious figures including Edward I the Confessor the first patron saint of England.

These were all led by the Cross of St George the national banner of England's Patron saint defaced with a fleur de lee

After being drawn by horse through the streets of  Leicester the Coffin arrived at the Cathedral, unfortunatly the coffin was no preceded by, or rapped in a royal banner. However this was done at the field:

 However elongated versions of this flag, did decorate the street furniture outside the church.

The King's Cypher of RIII was also used on crimson flags with gold lettering by the council for the event. In the cathedral the coffin was draped with a specially made coffin drape, which among other things bore Richard III's coat of arms:

The shield of this variant of the Royal Arms of England will also be visible on the King's tomb inside the Cathedral as is his badge of the bore. Both White bore and white rose badges were worn by many of those in attendance.
The flag flown over the Cathedral was the standard Church of England design, of a Cross of St George with the diocese coat of arms in the canton, and can be seen in this news clip:

 
I have to say that as a person interested in Vexillology I was disappointed with the lack of flags (such as draping the coffin), but appart from that it was an interesting and dignified ceremony that was well done.

International arms of Elizabeth II

This experiment really came as an idea from a discussion about the Royal Coat of arms. Some might remember reading my Heraldic Designs post, where one of my designs was a single coat of arms for HRH the Prince of Wales that represented all his titles. So what if the same could be said of HM the Queen? This is not a new idea, for example the Royal Arms of England before the 1707 Act of Union with Scotland were:

This coat of arms is a personal coat of arms rather than a state coat of arms, which is what Royal Arms have turned into over time. Notice that it is quartered with the arms of England (itself quartered with arms of France,(English monarchs still claimed the throne of France in 1707)), Scotland and Ireland. 

What if the same sort of thing happened with today's Royal coat of arms? The problem arises that the Queen is currently the constitional monarch of 16 different states, 15 of which have coats of arms. The Current arms of the United Kingdom (excluding Scotland) are:

I had an attempt at an international coat of arms, in an attempt to try make the Royal arms a personal coat of arms rather than a state one with mixed results. My first attempt was this:

Using the British coat of arms as a base I quartered the shield with the 15 coats of arms of the commonwealth realms. The supporters come from the UK Arms and the compartment(base) has the flowers of the British Isles for historical symbolism. The flags are the Union Flag and the flag of the Commonwealth of Nations. The Union Jack is used in a lot of commonwealth realms and appears in the flags of others. The Commonwealth flag represents the Queen's position as head of the Commonwealth (although its not a hereditary title). The motto doesn't appear on any current coat of arms, so is therefore more neutral.

The shield in detail is:

The nations represented on the shield are from left to right

• Top: United Kingdom (altered to include Wales) Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
• 2nd Row: Jamaica, Barbados, Bahamas, Grenada.
• Third row: Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines
• Bottom Row: Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, St Kitts and Nevis

The shield is defaced with the personal emblem of Elizabeth II, a crowned letter "E" in a garland of gold roses.
I only included the arms of sovereign states and not territories, dependencies or associated states, as they should be represented by (but perhaps not in) the arms of their sovereign state.

The first coat of arms is perhaps not completely neutral so here is the second design with some of the elements (not the shield) changed:

The most obvious change is the Union Flag replaced by the Queen's personal flag, which was originally designed to represent her as an individual rather than associate, so this seems appropriate.
Secondly I removed the crest, rather than add all the crests, which I might have done if there was only two or three, but there is far, to many and if I added them all, it would overwhelm the design.
So no crest but I did keep the St Edward's Crown as this is used in the heraldry of other Commonwealth realms, notably (but not only) Canada, Australia and New Zealand. (also of interest is on both versions the supporters are wearing their respective St Edwards and Scots crowns)
The Compartment also includes the plants of Australia and Canada. I also used a different motto to one that I think reflects the Queen's life.
Of course coats of arms were often  historically used to make statements which I think this does. But If the shield is a little overwhelming, perhaps HM could only use the arms of nations, where she has a Royal Standard?
This reduces the quarters from 15 to 6, as only six countries use their own Royal Standard (there are seven Royal standards the UK has two):

This is perhaps a more practical design.
Thanks for reading, please feel free to comment.
Some posts that may also be of interest:
National flag of the UK
Heraldry guide
Heraldic Designs
Government Coat of Arms
Personal flags