The International Association of Amateur Heralds

Here's something we don't see every day. Adam Simon Tuck was appointed Rouge Dragon Pursuivant at the College of Arms two days ago, and he's posted a photo of his patent of appointment on his twitter page. As he says, publication is "literally the whole point of Letters Patent".


'Heaton' would be Sir Richard Heaton, Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, a branch of the Ministry of Justice which is responsible for documents requiring the royal seal.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention Arthur. A good find (and I entirely agree that the point of Letters Patent is that they are to be seen by all).

Mark Scott was appointed Bluemantle at the same time. He also posted a photo of his letters patent on Facebook, but his are more elaborate. Does the recipient have the option to pay extra for pendant seal, vellum, and so on?

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Thank you for posting this, Joseph. Quite a difference between the two documents. It certainly looks as though there must be an option as to the materials. Even the presentation container is different -- the photo on Rouge Dragon's twitter page, (which I had to crop to fit our message board size limits), shows a red document wallet with the royal arms in gold.

Things are obviously looking up for LsP. When I received my LsP as an Officer of HM Diplomatic Service, as well as a couple of consular ones, they each turned up in a largish envelope, no seal pendant. Trust the College to look after its own.

For those who like heraldic eye candy, Rouge Dragon has a twitter page where he posts lots of heraldic images :
https://twitter.com/Abaculus.

I am delighted to say that both Mark and Adam are active members of the Heraldry Society. Mark, whilst acting as an assistant to Rouge Croix, worked on my Pedigree and Badge. I suspect he did most of the "heavy lifting".

Short of miraculously being ennobled or being made a Knight Grand Cross, I have nothing else heraldic I can petition for from the College of Arms. I understand their appointment as Pursuivants starts with an empty (& undecorated) room.

Wow, there is even a blue mantel inside the initial E.

Ryan Shuflin wrote:Wow, there is even a blue mantel inside the initial E.

For which Mark Scott had to pay a significant amount extra.

Chris Green wrote:Things are obviously looking up for LsP. When I received my LsP as an Officer of HM Diplomatic Service, as well as a couple of consular ones, they each turned up in a largish envelope, no seal pendant. Trust the College to look after its own.

Chris, the pendant seal is an option available at the recipient's discretion. The other new pursuivant, Adam Tuck, opted for the less expensive version, which is sealed on the face of the document. Mark had to pay several hundred pounds for the nicer version. I don't know about HM Diplomatic Service, but U.S. Foreign Service Officers, as a group, are among the cheapest people on the face of the planet.* Would you have shelled out five or six hundred pounds for a pendant seal?

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*I'm joking...sort of... but one senior FSO for whom I worked in the Pentagon used to give jars of home-made jams and preserves as Christmas presents to the staff when he was deputy chief of mission at an embassy in the Middle East. Around about February, he would come around asking the recipients to return the jars so they could be re-used the next year.