Coat of arms of Denmark

The coat of arms of Denmark (Danish: Danmarks rigsvåben) has a lesser and a greater version.
The state coat of arms (rigsvåben) consists of three pale blue lions passant wearing crowns, accompanied by nine red lilypads (normally represented as heraldic hearts), all in a golden shield with the royal crown on top.
The national coat of arms of Denmark (nationalvåben — also called lille våben) is similar to the state coat of arms, but without the royal crown above the shield.
It is evolved from the coat of arms of the House of Estridsen, the dynasty which provided the kings of Denmark between 1047 and 1412. Historically, there had been no distinction between the "national" and the "royal" coat of arms. Since 1819, there has been a more complex royal coat of arms of Denmark (kongevåben) separate from the national coat of arms (rigsvåben). The current design was introduced in 2024, under Frederik X.
The oldest known depiction of the insignia dates from a seal used by King Canute VI c. 1194. The oldest documentation for the colours dates from c. 1270.
Historically, the lions faced the viewer and the number of hearts was not regulated and could be much higher. The "heart" shapes originally represented waterlily pads; a royal decree of 1972 still specifies these figures as søblade ("lake leaves").
The current design was traced to 1819 during the reign of King Frederick VI who fixed the number of hearts to nine and decreed that the heraldic beasts were lions, consequently facing forward. A rare version exists from the reign of king Eric of Pomerania in which the three lions jointly hold the Danish banner, in a similar fashion as in the coat of arms of the former South Jutland County. Until c. 1960, Denmark used both a "small" and a "large" coat of arms, similar to the system still used in Sweden. The latter symbol held wide use within the government administration, e.g., by the Foreign Ministry. Since this time, the latter symbol has been classified as the coat of arms of the royal family, leaving Denmark with only one national coat of arms, used for all official purposes.
The crown on the shield is a heraldic construction based on the crown of King Christian V, not to be confused with the crown of King Christian IV. The main difference from the real crown is that the latter is covered with table cut (taffelsten) diamonds rather than pearls. Both crowns, and other royal insignia, are located in Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen.
The blazon in heraldic terms is: Or, three lions passant in pale azure crowned and armed Or langued gules, nine hearts Gules.
This insignia is almost identical to the coat of arms of Estonia and the greater coat of arms of Tallinn which can both be traced directly back to King Valdemar II and the Danish rule in northern Estonia in 1219–1346. The main differences are as follows: In the Danish coat of arms the lions are crowned, face forward, and accompanied by nine hearts. In the Estonian coat of arms, the "leopards" still face the viewer, they are not crowned, and no hearts are present. The coat of arms of Tallinn resembles the Estonian arms, but the leopards in the former arms are crowned with golden crowns similar to the ones in the Danish arms. It shows great similarities with the contemporary insignia of England's Richard the Lionheart and the current arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The Danish coat of arms has also been the inspiration for the coat of arms of the former Duchy of Schleswig, a former Danish province (two blue lions in a golden shield). The hearts of the coat of arms also appear in the coat of arms of the German district of Lüneburg.
The current iteration of the royal coat of arms was adopted on December 20, 2024.
The royal coat of arms is more complex. The current version was established by royal decree on 20 December 2024. It is much simpler than previous versions.
The shield is quartered by a silver cross bordured in red. The first quarter represents Denmark with three crowned lions passant accompanied by nine hearts, the second quarter represents the Faroe Islands with a silver ram on blue, the third quarter represents Greenland with a silver polar bear on blue, and the fourth quarter contains two lions passant representing Southern Jutland, the northern part of former Schleswig.
The centre escutcheon, two red bars on a golden shield, represents the House of Oldenburg, the former royal dynasty that ruled Denmark and Norway from the middle of the fifteenth century. When the senior branch of this dynasty became extinct in 1863, the crown passed to Prince Christian of the cadet branch Glücksburg, whose descendants have reigned in Denmark ever since. The House of Glücksburg continues the use of the arms of the old Oldenburg dynasty, and the symbol is still officially referred to by its old association.
Two woodwoses (vildmænd) act as supporters; this element can be traced back to the early reign of the Oldenburg dynasty. Similar supporters were used in the former arms of Prussia. The shield features the insignias of the Order of the Dannebrog and the Order of the Elephant around it.
The shield and supporters are framed by a royal ermine robe, surmounted by a royal crown.
The royal coat of arms has since around 1960 been reserved exclusively for use by the monarch, the royal family, the Royal Guards and the royal court according to royal decree. A select number of purveyors to the Danish royal family are also allowed to use the royal insignia.
In late medieval heraldry, coats of arms that used to be associated with noble families became attached to the territories that had been ruled by these families, and coats of arms used by individual rulers were composed of the coats of arms of the territories they ruled. In the case of Denmark, the coat of arms of the House of Estridsen with the extinction of the dynasty became the "coat of arms of Denmark". Olaf II of Denmark (and IV of Norway) succeeded his maternal grandfather Valdemar IV in 1376. He was the first king to rule Norway and Denmark in personal union. Olaf on his seal still displayed the Estridsen (for Denmark) and Sverre (for Norway) coats of arms in two separate shields. The custom of dividing the field arises with Eric of Pomerania at the end of the 14th century.
The modern "royal coat of arms of Denmark" is the continuation of this tradition of the Danish monarch using his or her personal coat of arms after the end of the personal union of Denmark and Norway.
Throughout the 20th century the version of the arms became simplified from the previous versions, which contained seven additional sub-coats representing five territories formerly ruled by the Danish kings and two medieval titles: Holstein, Stormarn, Dithmarschen, Lauenburg, Delmenhorst, and King of the Wends and Goths. A crowned silver stockfish on red was formerly included to represent Iceland, but due to Icelandic opposition, this symbol was replaced in 1903 by a silver falcon on blue. The falcon was in turn removed from the royal arms in 1948 following the death of King Christian X in 1947 and reflecting the 1944 breakup of the Dano-Icelandic union.
The following list is based on research by Danish heraldist Erling Svane. Danish names are shown in brackets.
On 20 December 2024, Frederik X changed the royal arms, which were last adjusted by his mother in 1972. In the current version Greenland and the Faroe Islands have been given more space in the new royal arms, which are the King's personal arms and a state emblem.
The change reflects the King's wishes to create a contemporary royal arms that both reflects the Danish Realm and takes into account history and heraldic tradition. Previously, the Faroe Islands and Greenland divided the same field out of four in the royal arms, where they have now each received their own field out of the four fields in the middle of the arms.
Notwithstanding the above, as in the royal arms from 1972, the Schleswig lions, the coat of arms of South Jutland, also have their own field in the arms. The two lions are carried as a special testimony to the history of South Jutland and date from the mid-13th century.
In connection with the change of the royal coat of arms, the Royal House has also decided to change the royal flags, so that the new royal coat of arms is now included in a number of the flags that the Royal House flies. The Royal Flag has the new coat of arms in the middle of the flag, while the Queen's flag has both the Queen's coat of arms and the King's new coat of arms. Crown Prince Christian also has a new flag, with the royal coat of arms in the middle of the flag crowned with the Crown Prince's Crown. The new royal flags have been flown from 1 January 2025 at Amalienborg, over the palaces of Frederik VIII and Christian VII.
The three crowns present for 500 years, symbolising the Kalmar Union between Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which was led from Denmark between 1397 and 1523, and an important symbol of Sweden, were removed in the 2024 update. This was described as a shock and a sensation. The emphasis on Greenland and the Faroes was thought to be a rebuke to the returning American president Donald Trump and his proposals for the United States to purchase Greenland to increase its security.
Royal coat of arms painter Ronny Skov Andersen has designed and drawn the new version of the royal coat of arms. He has also been chairman of the committee that was appointed shortly after the accession to the throne on 14 January with the aim of ensuring that the King would have a new coat of arms. In addition, the committee consisted of a royal historiographer of orders, a heraldic consultant, a museum director and three others.
Various versions of the Danish Royal Arms are used by the Kingdom: Government, the Parliament and courts. The Kingdom Government and its agencies generally use a simplified version of the Royal Arms without the mantle, the pavilion and the topped royal crown. This simplified Royal Arms also feature on the cover of passports, embassies and consulates of the Kingdom of Denmark.