The Royal Badges of the United Kingdom

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Jonathan Webster
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The Royal Badges of the United Kingdom

Postby Jonathan Webster » 08 Jan 2013, 18:33

Recently I have been reading with great interest Fox-Davies' fantastic (but short) Heraldic Badges.

Just in general, I wanted to discuss the various badges used by the British monarch and various members of the British Royal Family, both past and present.

In the past, badges were either assumed by the monarch or granted to his family members.

Presently, it seems (according to Fox Davies), the Badges of the monarch have been added to via Royal Warrant each time there has been a change in the Royal Arms.

This first (I believe) happened in 1801 with the establishment of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

In this warrant; was adopted the current floral badge of the United Kingdom, incorporating the Rose badge of England, Thistle badge of Scotland, and the Shamrock (Trefoil Slipped Vert) badge of Ireland, imperially crowned:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crowned_Floral_Badges_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg
Last edited by Jonathan Webster on 09 Jan 2013, 23:16, edited 4 times in total.

Jonathan Webster
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Re: The Royal Badges of the United Kingdom

Postby Jonathan Webster » 08 Jan 2013, 18:50

Intriguingly, George III also adopted his cypher as a badge in the same warrant.

When Victoria acceded to the throne in 1837, a badge consisting of the Union Flag displayed on a shield; imperially crowned, was also adopted, as.was her cypher, imperially crowned.

All of the Royal Warrants have confirmed the territorial plant badges of the Rose imperially crowned for England, the Thistle imperially crowned for Scotland, and the Trefoil slipped Vert (Shamrock) imperially crowned and Harp imperially crowned for Ireland, and the Dragon passant gules on a mount Vert (which has, however been augmented in the reign of the present Queen.)

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GJKS
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Re: The Royal Badges of the United Kingdom

Postby GJKS » 08 Jan 2013, 23:24

... the territorial plant badges of the Rose imperially crowned for England,


The floral emblem referred to is the imperially crowned Tudor [double] Rose.


Image

... which has been used as a Royal Badge since the times of the Tudors.

However, the following image (for which there is no actual blazon) was oficially ratified as the Floral Emblem of England vide 'Orders in Council' dated 05 Nov 1800

Image
Regards,
Geoff

Jonathan Webster
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Re: The Royal Badges of the United Kingdom

Postby Jonathan Webster » 09 Jan 2013, 00:10

Yes, as I stated; the previous badges borne by the monarch were confirmed by the 1800 Order-in-Council, including then crowned Thistle and crowned harp amongst others. Interestingly enough, the badge for Wales (a Dragon passant Gules, wings elevated, on a mount Vert) was not officially adopted until 1807, even though it had been introduced by Henry VII. The badge of the crowned shamrock for Ireland was introduced with the 1800 Order-in-Council, and the 1837 Order similarly confirmed all the existing badges of the reigning monarch whilst at the same time introducing a few new ones.

Geoff, I'm intrigued; where did you find the bottom image?

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GJKS
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Re: The Royal Badges of the United Kingdom

Postby GJKS » 09 Jan 2013, 02:40

Jonathan Webster wrote:Geoff, I'm intrigued; where did you find the bottom image?


It's part of a photocopy of the actual 'Order in Council' (dated 05 November 1800) that was obtained for me from the National Records Office. I've had a difference of opinion with a couple of people as to just what constitutes a Tudor Rose and this was one of the images that I used to support my opinion.

Here are another couple of images from that Annex to the Sign Manual. Image
The images weren't blazoned and their only 'attempted blazon' was to state 'as depicted in the annex'. I believe that this was common practice in those days with the popular accent being on the coloured image rather than the written word.

I believe that the use of these two images depended on just where they were displayed - H1 when used in Scotland and H2 when in Ireland, similar to the depiction of the Royal Arms when used in England/Scotland.
Regards,
Geoff

Jonathan Webster
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Re: The Royal Badges of the United Kingdom

Postby Jonathan Webster » 09 Jan 2013, 16:58

Yes; that seems a logical reasoning Geoff. :)

Up to and including the Tudor period, it seems; badges were granted or used as regards individual members of the Royal family, but with the accession of the Stuarts, this practice ceased (in line with the general pattern of the use of badges in that period becoming pretty much moribund.) and only the Heir Apparent used such badges (and indeed, was even granted further badges, as was the future George V on his being created Prince of Wales: the monarch's Dragon badge for Wales differenced by a Label of three points Argent, which was also granted to the present Prince of Wales in 1958 and the future Edward VIII in 1911.)

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Postby Ryan Shuflin » 10 Jan 2013, 15:47

As far I can tell, besides the Queen and the Prince of Wales, only the Dukes of Edinburgh and York have badges. The Duke of Edinburgh is Edinburgh (sable) and the Duke of York's is the Rose of York. Both are placed within the Garter and are crowned. Although other members of the Royal Family use crowned initials, and there is the house badge.

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Re: The Royal Badges of the United Kingdom

Postby Jonathan Webster » 10 Jan 2013, 18:05

I was aware of the Duke of York using the White Rose; but I don't think it's use is sanctioned by authority, i.e. its use is not official. That said; sanctioning its use officially might make sense in my personal opinion. But certainly; no badge has been granted on an official basis to the Duke of York (I think this was debated on either alt.talk.royalty or rec.heraldry a few years ago)-at any rate; I suppose it would still count as a badge of the monarch (albeit not one that has been used for many years) and thus would need to be borne with a difference like the Prince of Wales' Dragon badge for Wales is. I could be wrong about that, but it certainly hasn't been granted on any official basis to the Duke.

I wasn't aware the Duke of Edinburgh used any badges; do you have a source for that?

There is precedent to the use of the Royal Cyphers as badges: George III's was defined as such in the 1800 Order-in-Council, as was Victoria's in the 1837 one(in fact their were two: one encircled by the garter; one not. Both were imperially crowned.), as also was Edward VII's in 1901.

One thing I have noticed regarding the Royal Badges is that when they have been assumed (excluding cyphers); they are largely not superseded by later additions to the collection of Royal Badges (although they are sometimes altered; e.g. the Dragon badge for Wales via augmentation in the 1950s-btw does anyone know if the augmented Dragon badge has been superceded by the 2008 badge for Wales?). There are plenty of examples of badges that have fallen into disuse over time; and their use is revived later on.
Last edited by Jonathan Webster on 10 Jan 2013, 18:11, edited 2 times in total.

Jonathan Webster
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Re: The Royal Badges of the United Kingdom

Postby Jonathan Webster » 10 Jan 2013, 18:08

Regarding the House Badge of the House of Windsor; I must admit I am at something of a loss as to how it is supposed to be used. Does anyone know how it is intended to be used? Is it intended as a badge for the other members of the House of Windsor (besides HM the Queen and the Prince of Wales) who do not have badges of their own; or is it intended to represent the House as a whole; and in either case; in what circumstances?

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Re: The Royal Badges of the United Kingdom

Postby Jonathan Webster » 10 Jan 2013, 18:54

Interestingly, according to heraldica.org; (here: http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/prince_highness_docs.htm#1919 ) Lady Patricia Ramsay, the former Princess Patricia of Connaught-a granddaughter in the male line of Queen Victoria-was granted a badge (along with her arms) on her marriage in 1919 of 'the letters PR encircled by a coronet composed of crosses and strawberry leaves"' (that is; the coronet of her former rank; the style of which she discontinued on her marriage)

I don't know of any others; but if anyone knows of any others I would be very interested.


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