THE ROYAL ARMS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19961, 20 November 1934, Page 8

THE ROYAL ARMS

HISTORY IN BRITAIN NOT HEREDITARY The Royal arms are not hereditary; as sovereign arms of dominion they are not personal to the sovereign. Therefore each member of the Royal family has his or her arms settled by Royal warrant, and this decides what difference marks and coronet are to be used with the Royal arms, says a writer in the Melbourne “Age.” In Royal heraldry the label is the means of indicating cadetncy. The Sovereign’s children have three pointed labels, plain in the case of the Prince of Wales, and variously charged for the others. They all use the quartered arms of England. Scotland, and Ireland, with the same supporters and crest, but no motto, and are differenced with aporopriate coronets and labels. The Prince of Wales has a plain white label with three points placed horizontally across the top( or chief) of the shield. The Duke of York has a blue anchor in the centre poiht. the Duke of Gloucester the centre point charged with a lion passant, and each of the others with a St. George’s cross, all red (gules). Prince George has his label charged with a blue anchor on each point: whilst Princess Mary has a St. George’s cross on each point. Since her marriage with Viscount Lascelles her coat of arms has been impaled with those of that nobleman. The Royal coat is emblazoned on all English half-crown pieces—if you have one just examine it, and you will find that the shield is divided into four quarters. In the first quarter (dexter) three lions, ranged parallel to each other, technically termed “in pale.” The perpendicular lines all over the field, which is an indication to the colourist that the field is red (gules). The lions bear little resemblance to the lions of the zoo. but this is owing to the fact that it was long a matter of dispute whether they were leopards or lions, and that heralds claim an almost unlimited licence in the way of idealising anything. For England. The three lions in pale stand for England. The second quarter contains the red lion within a double frame upon a dotted field. The dots denote that the field is gold or yellow. The lion is standing upon its hind legs, and is therefore called rampant.. The double frame, which is red. called a treasure, is a mark of the highest distinction in heraldry, and is described as “flory counter flory,” which simply means that the head and stalk of the fleur delis are alternated. The second quarter is dedicated to Scotland. The third quarter is dedicated to Ireland. The harp, which is of gold, stringed silver, is upon a blue (azure) field marked by horizontal lines. In the fourth quarter the lions of England are repeated. The Royal arms have passed through many changes during the period of English history. It is said that two golden lions on a red field were the arms of William I. 11. Henry I. Stephen and Henry 11. but there appears to be very little proof that they were ever used. As a matter of fact. Stephen is credited with having used for his arms a gold centaur on a red field. Used by Richard I. The Royal arms of England. “Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale, Or.” were first used by Richard I. These remained unchanged until 1340, when Edward 111. in consequence to his claim to the throne of France, quartered the shield, placing the arms of France “Azure, semme fieur delis. Or.” in the first and fourth quarters, and those of England in the second and third quarter. Richard II impaled these arms with “Azure, a cross fleury between five martlets. Or”; these were placed on the dexter side, the Royal arms appearing on the sinister side. About the year 1365 Charles V. of France reduced the number of fleur de lis to three (two over one), and Henry IV effected the same change in the French quartering of the Royal arms. The same fleur delis pattern is known as “France ancient,” and the three fleur delis as “France modem.’’ The Royal arms remained unchanged until the reign of Elizabeth, who sometimes bore “Azure, a harp Or. stringed Argent” (Ireland). With the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of England the arms of Scotland. “Or within a double tressure flory counter flory a lion rampant. Gules,” were incorporated in the Royal arms. As King of Scotland James I placed the arms of Scotland in the first and fourth quarters, and those of England counter quartered in the second quarter, while the harp of Ireland took its permanent place in the third quarter. With the execution of Charles I the Royal arms fell into disuse. The Commonwealth evolved arms consisting of quarterly first and fourth, the cross of St. George. “Argent, a cross, gules; second quarter the cross of St. Andrew, Azure, a saltire Argent.” and in the I third quarter the harp of Ireland. Over I all. in the centre, on an escutcheon of retence. was placed Cromwell’s arms, | Sable, a lion rampant. Argent.” Charles II carried on his father’s arms, and no definite change took place until the fall cf the Stuarts and the accession of William 111 and Mary 11. The shield was impaled, to denote the equal sovereignty of the two monarens. After the death of Mary. William discontinued the impaled shield, and dropped the arms of Mary. When Anne succeeded to the throne she used the Stuart arms for the first design. Her second pattern was quarterly. First quarter. England impaled with Scotland «the Scottish half showed the whole lion. but. of course, only half the tressure); second quarter, France modern; third quarter, Ireland; and fourth quarter England and Scotland again as in the first. When George I ascended the throne it became necessary to assign a place in the Royal shield for the arms of Hanover. So the impaled arms of England and Scotland were removed from the fourth quarter and those of Hanover replaced them. George II used the same arms, and so did George 111 up to the beginning of 1801. Then the arms of France disappeared for ever from the Royal arms. England was placed first and fourth. Scotland second and Ireland third. These arms remained unchanged until the accession of Queen Victoria, in 1337. The Kingdom of Hanover passed from the Sovereign of Great Britain, and as a result the Hanoverian charge disappeared from the Royal shield, and so the arms to-day. carried through the reigns of King Edward VII and George V, represent the three kingdoms. Such are the changes that have taken place in the Royal arms of England. There are many forms of emblazoning the Royal arms, but this is only the whim of heraldic artists. Every morning “The Age.” in its headings, gives you one pattern, with appropriate mottoes “Dieu et Mon Droit” (God and my right) and “Honi soi qui mal y pense” (Evil to him who evil thinks). The more one goes over the realms of heraldry the more one realises the wide scope that io allowed in this fascinating subject.