Monthly Archives: Nov 2024

First Look at Royal Variety

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It won’t actually be broadcast for a few weeks, but 2024’s iteration of the Royal Variety Performance was recorded last night at the Royal Albert Hall. His Majesty was in attendance for the first time in his reign, having last attended (virtually) in the somewhat abnormal edition arranged for 2020. The Queen was supposed to attend with him (having also done so in 2013 and 2016) but dropped out at the last minute due to the relapse of a recent chest infection (which also stopped her attending the annual Festival of Remembrance at the same venue).

No photographs or film of the performances themselves have yet been seen, but publicity shots of the cast and attendees are available through commercial photographers, and they show the logo of the Royal Variety Performance printed on the wallpaper of the backdrop. It very obviously uses Sodacan’s illustration of Elizabeth II’s royal arms with St Edward’s Crown instead of the Tudor one. The charity’s website is much the same – the background has a monochrome outline of the full heraldic achievement similar to that on royal.uk and a smaller representation of the same appears in the footer. When you hover the cursor over it, the outline changes to a full-colour copy of Sodacan’s graphic. I wonder how long that will take to update?

Ironically the royal box inside the hall features a textile version of the royal arms with the Tudor crown, which was evidently erected there before Elizabeth II’s accession and left there throughout her reign without update until it eventually came back into style. All fashions are cyclical, one supposes, even if this particular rotation took a very, very, long time to complete.

Bluemantle? No, Blumenthal!

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Just over a month ago there was an exciting announcement in the world of heraldry – The Heraldry Society was launching its own blog. This is important because most of the output of the society – and of heraldic societies more generally – tends to be in the form of lectures and academic papers. If these are available online at all (and not behind a paywall) they tend to become so on a very slow timescale. While there are also plenty of heraldry blogs and some of them are updated regularly, these tend to be the work of enthusiastic amateurs looking in from outside rather than vice versa. This looks as if it will move at a somewhat faster pace while also giving authoritative insights.

So far there have been three articles published on the blog and it does not yet appear that a theme has been settled on. The first is an interview with Professor Gillian Black, the Carrick Pursuivant of Arms. The second is by Jean-Eudes Pierra talking about the history of bees in heraldry and the third is by celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal recounting the process by which his coat of arms was granted. Happily this one also includes photographs of his letters patent in quality high enough to be legible. Blumenthal’s shield was one of my earliest illustrations for Wikimedia Commons, being published in the summer of 2018.

Realms and Revelations

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When writing and reviewing textbooks, encyclopedia entries and anything else to be considered authoritative, it is important to be able to cite one’s sources of information. You may learn and know things from what you’ve heard and seen in person (or, in my case, on Zoom meetings) but this is almost worthless if it cannot be verified by the rest of the public – or at least the academic community.

For matters which relate to government and politics, Parliamentary questions and statements are very useful in this regard as they are recorded in Hansard. Of course, such statements are only made at all if MPs and peers are minded to discuss those topics. For the lay citizen, an alternative can be found in Freedom of Information requests, the principal avenue for which is the website WhatDoTheyKnow.

I recently tried my hand at resolving three questions through this method, with varying degrees of success:

Scottish Arms of the Royal Family

I have blogged many times before about the uncertainty of the armorial status of Queen Camilla, Prince William and various other royals in Scotland since the end of Elizabeth II’s reign. The obvious body to ask was the Lyon Court. WDTK lists the Court as a body which is not subject to the FOI act but which they believe ought to be. I have of course, interacted virtually with some Scottish officers of arms before, but that was in a much less formal context. It appears that I am the first person to attempt to contact the Court through this avenue. As expected, my request was refused. I found Kevin Greig’s use of the term “research” a little ill-fitting in this particular instance, though understandable if dictated by consistency with more general policy. He suggested that Scotland’s People would be the more appropriate place to look. The most surprising part of his response was the final sentence, implying that the Court only controls the sovereign’s undifferenced arms and that those of the other royals, including the Scottish versions, are held by the College in London.

Membership Quotas on Orders of Chivalry

After the death of Dame Maggie Smith got me thinking about the topic, I sent the question to the Cabinet Office, as they are the government department responsible for the management of the larger honours list. They got back to me a month later to say that while they maintain statistics on the numbers of new appointments to each order each time, they have none relating to the cumulative totals. They suggested that the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood might know, but their data were probably also incomplete and that in any case they are not subject to the FOI Act either.

The King’s Honours in His Other Realms

This request also concerned the honours system, or rather systems, for I noted that many “British” honours (such as the Royal Victorian Order, or the Order of St Michael & St George) are also awarded in other countries with Charles III as monarch. I wanted to know whether his awards given to e.g. Canadians and Papuans were formally granted in his capacity as monarch of those countries or as monarch of this one – including what royal style and insignia were used on the relevant letters patent.

I initially sent this one to the Cabinet Office as well. They didn’t hold the necessary information here either, recommending that I instead ask the Crown Office in Chancery (within the Ministry of Justice) and if that failed then the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. I asked both simultaneously to save time. The Crown Office held none of the information at all, but the FCDO was able to supply most of what I wanted. Crucially, they confirmed the the sovereign honours the other realms’ subjects in his relevant local capacity not his British one. They also clarified that these appointments are done by warrant rather than by patent and that the documents don’t display coats of arms but do include the seals of the orders of chivalry themselves.

It was a long trek but it was nice to eventually get something out of all of these requests. I will consider chasing up the Chancery at a later date.

The Queen’s Flags Elsewhere

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Following the sighting of Her Majesty’s impaled British royal banner on a limousine in Australia, I’ve had a go at mocking up what her arms should look like in each of the realms where she is queen consort. These all consist of the arms of Bruce Shand as illustrated by Fry1989 impaled by the arms of dominion of each realm as illustrated by various other artists. In all cases I have done some minor colour correction so the shades of the tinctures are consistent and rearranged the components a little to fit a square rather than a shield shape.

Antigua & Barbuda

The national arms are Barry wavy of six Argent and Azure a sugar mill on a grassy ground Proper on a chief wavy Sable a rising sun radiant Or. The Shand arms are Azure a boar’s head erased behind the ears Argent armed and langued Or on a chief engrailed Argent between two mullets Gules a cross crosslet fitchy Sable.

Australia

The national arms are Quarterly of six 1st Argent a cross Gules charged with a lion passant guardant between on each limb a mullet of eight points Or 2nd Azure five mullets one of eight two of seven one of six and one of five points Argent ensigned with an Imperial Crown Proper 3rd Argent a Maltese cross Azure surmounted by a like Imperial Crown 4th Or on a Perch wreathed Vert and Gules an Australian Piping Shrike displayed also Proper 5th Or a Swan naiant to the sinister Sable 6th Argent a Lion passant Gules the whole within a bordure Ermine.

Bahamas

The national arms are Upon a representation of the Santa Maria on a base barry wavy of four Azure and Argent on a chief Azure demi-sun Or.

I noticed as I went along that depictions of the Santa Maria appeared in quite a few of the Carribean blazons, although the style of depiction varies a bit.

Belize

The national arms are Party per pall inverted 1st Argent a paddle and a squaring axe Proper in saltire 2nd Or a saw and beating axe Proper in saltire 3rd per fess Bleu celeste and barry wavy Or Vert Azure above the last a sailing ship Proper.

There is some inconsistency between depictions as to the tinctures used in the barry wavy, with some other versions simply having naturalistic water.

Canada

The national arms are Tierced in fess the first and second divisions containing quarterly 1st Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or 2nd Or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules 3rd Azure a harp Or stringed Argent 4th Azure three fleurs-de-lis Or and the third division being Argent three maple leaves conjoined on one stem Proper.

Since Canada is the only other realm to have its own heraldic authority, this is probably the one most likely to actually be officially used.

Grenada

The national arms are Quarterly 1st & 4th Gules a lion passant guardant Or 2nd & 3rd Vert a crescent and a lily Or over all a cross Or and in nombril point a picture of the Santa Maria Proper.

It was quite difficult to fit the Santa Maria into the nombril point of the cross without either making the image too small or the cross too thick.

Jamaica

The national arms are Argent on a cross gules five pineapples slipped Or. This is the shortest blazon of them all.

The illustration is also the simplest, and thus this was the first one I did. From a distance it could potentially look like a defaced England flag.

New Zealand

The national arms are Quarterly Azure and Gules on a pale Argent three lymphads Sable 1st four mullets in cross of the last each surmounted by a mullet of the second 2nd a fleece 3rd a garb 4th two mining hammers in saltire all Or.

New Zealand’s arms may technically be an example of faux-quartering.

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea’s national emblem is not a coat of arms as such, so I’ve had to improvise a little here by just putting the whole thing on a “bedsheet” the tincture of the background is up for debate. I ultimately went with Azure as that is used for the Governor-General’s flag.

Saint Kitts & Nevis

This realm does have a coat of arms but I can’t actually find a blazon for it.

This coat of arms has a lot of the same charges as does Saint Lucia’s, but the boat depicted is seemingly not the Santa Maria as in other examples.

The chief above the chevron makes for a rather crowded field with the sails difficult to fit in the base.

Saint Lucia

The national arms are Azure two sticks of cut bamboo in cross surmounted of an African stool of authority Or between in dexter chief and sinister base a rose Argent charged with another Gules both barbed and seeded Proper and in sinister chief and dexter base a fleur-de-lis Gold.

Saint Vincent & the Grenadines

Again, I can’t find a blazon for the arms and I would struggle to come up with one.

This one is a rare example of pictorial heraldry on this page, looking more like a painting than a series of armorial symbols. The flames have come out looking a little crude.

Solomon

The national arms are Or a saltire Vert charged with two spears in saltire points in base and a bow and two arrows charged with a native shield in fess point between two turtles all Proper and on a chief Azure an eagle sejant on a branch between two frigate birds all Proper.

Tuvalu

The national arms are Per fess Azure and Or in chief upon grass issuant a representation of an Ellice Maneapa or meeting house all Proper and in base four barrulets wavy Azure a bordure Or charged with banana leaves and mitre sea shells placed alternately Proper together.