Coat of arms of the United Kingdom

The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, also referred to as the royal arms, are the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently Charles III. They are used by the Government of the United Kingdom and by other Crown institutions, including courts in the United Kingdom and in some parts of the Commonwealth. Differenced versions of the arms are used by members of the British royal family. The monarch's official flag, the Royal Standard, is the coat of arms in flag form.
There are two versions of the coat of arms. One is used in Scotland, and includes elements derived from the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Scotland, and the other is used elsewhere and includes elements derived from the coat of arms of the Kingdom of England. The shields of both versions of the arms quarter the arms of the kingdoms of England and Scotland, which united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707, and the Kingdom of Ireland, which united with Great Britain to form the United Kingdom in 1801. The Irish quarter was unaltered following the division of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State in 1922.
The present arms do not include a representation of the United Kingdom's fourth constituent country, Wales. It is instead represented heraldically by two royal badges, which use the Welsh dragon and the coat of arms of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth respectively.
At the centre of the arms is a quartered shield, depicting the three passant guardant lions of England in the first and fourth quarters, the rampant lion and double tressure flory-counterflory of Scotland in the second quarter, and a harp for Ireland in the third quarter. Surrounding the shield is the Order of the Garter, the United Kingdom's most senior order of knighthood. The supporters are a crowned English lion on the dexter (heraldic right), and a chained Scottish unicorn on the sinister (heraldic left). Above the shield is a gold helmet, which has mantling of gold and ermine attached to it. On top of this is the crest, a crown with a crowned lion standing on it. Below the shield is a grassy mound, a type of compartment, on which are thistles, Tudor roses and shamrocks, representing Scotland, England and Ireland respectively. In front of this is the motto Dieu et mon droit, a French phrase meaning 'God and my right'.
During the reign of Elizabeth II, the crowns depicted in this version of the royal arms were close representations of St Edward's Crown. Following Charles III's decision to use the Tudor Crown in his royal cypher, the College of Arms envisaged that the crown on the royal arms would also change. This would be similar to the design used from the beginning of Edward VII's reign in 1901 to the end of George VI's reign in 1952. However, as of September 2024, the St Edward's Crown version remained in use. On 10 October 2024, a new design for the royal arms was unveiled.
The royal arms in Scotland use the same basic elements, but with distinctive Scottish symbolism. In the shield the Scottish arms occupy the first and fourth quarters and the English arms the second, giving the former precedence. The shield is surrounded by the collar and badge of the Order of the Thistle. The crest is a crowned red lion holding a sword and sceptre (representing the Honours of Scotland), facing forward sitting on a crown. Above it is the Scots motto 'In defens', a contraction of the phrase 'In my defens God me defend'. The supporters are a crowned and chained Scottish unicorn on the dexter, and a crowned English lion on the sinister. Between each supporter and the shield is a lance displaying the flag of their respective kingdom. The grassy mound beneath the shield contains only thistles; on it is a second motto, that of the Order of the Thistle: Nemo me impune lacessit (no one will attack me with impunity). The crowns in the Scottish version of the arms are conventionally stylised to resemble the Crown of Scotland.
Changes to the blazon of the royal arms are in the Royal prerogative, presumed to be under ministerial advice.
This table breaks down the blazons to enable comparison of the differences between the general arms and the arms used in Scotland.
The present royal arms originated in the separate arms of the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland; Wales had been incorporated into the Kingdom of England in the 16th century. In 1603, James VI of Scotland inherited the English and Irish thrones, and, to symbolise this union of the crowns, the arms of England (which at that time were quartered with those of France) and Ireland were quartered with those of Scotland. Within Scotland, the Scottish arms were placed in the first and fourth quarters and those of England in the second, with the English arms taking precedence elsewhere.
Except during the Commonwealth and The Protectorate in the mid-seventeenth century, and the use by William III of an inescutcheon of Nassau, the arms remained unchanged until the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.
The Acts of Union 1707 united the two kingdoms of England and Scotland into one Kingdom of Great Britain. The arms of the new kingdom impaled England and Scotland in the first and fourth quarters, representing their union, with France in the second and Ireland in the third. In 1714, the Elector of Hanover, George I, became king, and the arms of Hanover were placed in the fourth quarter.
In 1801, Great Britain and Ireland were united to form the United Kingdom; the monarch's claim to the French throne was at the same time dropped, and the French quarter removed from the coat of arms. The remaining quarters were rearranged so that, outside Scotland, England occupied the first and fourth, Scotland the second, Ireland the third, and Hanover an inescutcheon topped by an electoral bonnet. Within Scotland, the Scottish and English quarters were reversed. In 1816, the electorate of Hanover became a kingdom, and the bonnet was replaced with a crown.
In 1837, Victoria became queen of the United Kingdom but not Hanover, as the latter followed Salic law which barred women from the succession. The Hanoverian inescutcheon was therefore removed, and the royal arms reached the form they have retained to the present. The only changes since have been cosmetic, such as altering the depiction of the Irish harp so that it no longer includes a bare-breasted woman.
The blazon of the royal arms has been changed only three times since the creation of the United Kingdom: in 1801, 1816 and 1837. But how these blazons are depicted has been subject to artistic interpretation and the preferences of the monarch under the royal prerogative.
The blazons of the royal arms do not specify any particular heraldic crown to be depicted in the achievement, using only the term "imperial crown proper" to indicate a crown with arches and in its natural colours. The first reference to the "imperial crown" of England was during the reign of Henry VIII in the Ecclesiastical Appeals Act 1532, which declared that "this realm of England is an empire ... governed by one Supreme Head and King having the dignity and royal estate of the imperial Crown of the same".
The actual form of the crown has varied over time. In England, the heraldic crown is ultimately based on St Edward's Crown, which has four crosses pattée and four fleurs-de-lis around the rim and two arches. However, depictions have varied depending on the artist. Queen Victoria, for example, had favoured a crown with rounded arches of "the type of an earlier time" since at least the 1860s, and in about 1880, after she was proclaimed Empress of India, the heraldic crown was altered to give it a more imperial form by making the arches semi-circular.
After the accession of Edward VII, the War Office raised the issue of a standardised design of the crown for use by the British Army, as several crowns of different patterns were in use. In 1901, the king decided on a "Tudor" crown design based on the crown of Henry VII, as "chosen and always used by Queen Victoria personally". This style was used until after the accession of Elizabeth II in 1952, when the design reverted to the style with depressed arches used by Charles II. The College of Arms envisages that Charles III will adopt a design similar to that used by Edward VII for the coat of arms, following the selection of such a crown on his royal cypher in 2022.
There have also been changes to the depiction of the Irish harp, with the frame variously depicted as a winged woman or as a Celtic harp, with the latter being more typical in the twentieth century, particularly since Elizabeth II.
The royal arms are the arms of dominion of the British monarch. Unlike ordinary armorial bearings, they are not hereditary. The right to bear them is vested in the reigning sovereign, and by extension their government, as a royal prerogative. Members of the royal family are granted differenced arms.
Crown copyright applies in perpetuity to depictions of the royal arms and any of its constituent parts under the royal prerogative, and The National Archives restricts rights to reproduce them. Although Crown Copyright usually expires 50 years after publication, Section 171(b) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 made an exception for 'any right or privilege of the Crown' not written in an act of parliament, thus preserving the rights of the Crown under the unwritten royal prerogative.
In addition, use of the royal arms and devices for commercial purposes is specifically restricted in the UK (and in countries which are party to the Paris Convention) under sections 4 and 99 of the Trade Marks Act 1994, and its use is governed by the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
The royal arms may be displayed by holders of a royal warrant but may not be used as a trade mark and should only be displayed for the duration of the grant of a royal warrant. It is an offence under Section 12 of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 to give a false indication that any goods or services are supplied to the monarch or any member of the royal family.
The UK Government generally uses a simplified form of the arms that omits the helm and mantling, reduces the crest to the crown alone, and has no compartment. Use of the royal arms by government departments and agencies is governed by the Cabinet Office.
The royal arms feature on all Acts of Parliament, in the logos of government departments, on the cover of all UK passports (and passports issued in other British territories and dependencies), as an inescutcheon on the diplomatic flags of British Ambassadors, and on The London Gazette. It is also used in the British Overseas Territories, namely on all acts of the Anguilla House of Assembly and by the administrations of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, the Pitcairn Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
The Scotland Office and the Advocate General for Scotland use the Scottish version of the arms, again without the helm or crest. The simplified Scottish royal arms were used as the day-to-day logo of the Scottish Executive until September 2007, when the body was rebranded as the Scottish Government and began using a logo incorporating the flag of Scotland. The Scottish Government continues to use the arms on some official documents, including Acts of the Scottish Parliament.
The royal arms appear in courtrooms in England and Wales, typically behind the judge's bench, and symbolise that justice comes from the monarch. One exception is the magistrates' court in the City of London, where both the royal arms and arms of the City of London Corporation appear behind the bench. Courtrooms in Scotland, in the same way, usually display the Scottish version of the royal arms. The Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 prohibited the display of the royal arms in courtrooms or on court building exteriors in Northern Ireland, with some exceptions.
The arms are not displayed in the Middlesex Guildhall, which houses the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, as the remit of the former includes the four nations of the entire UK, and the latter is the final court of appeal for three independent republics and for the independent sultanate of Brunei Darussalam, not recognizing the judicial authority of the British monarch as their head of state, as well as for the various British territories and sovereign bases, the Crown dependencies, and other independent Commonwealth realms where the king is the head of state but separated from the judicial authority.
A banner of the royal arms, known as the royal standard, is flown from buildings in which the monarch is resident or present. The Palace of Westminster, for example, usually flies the Union Flag, but flies the royal standard when the monarch is present for the State Opening of Parliament. When the monarch is not in residence at a palace in Scotland the royal banner of Scotland is flown; palaces in the rest of the UK fly the Union Flag.
The royal arms feature on the tabard worn by officers of arms of the College of Arms and Court of the Lord Lyon. These garments are worn at several traditional ceremonies, such as the annual procession and service of the Order of the Garter at Windsor Castle, the State Opening of Parliament, the coronation, and state funerals.
The royal arms regularly feature on British coinage, and are used as a logo by the Royal Mint. In 2008 a new series of designs for all seven coins of £1 and below was unveiled by the Royal Mint, every one of which is drawn from the royal arms. The full royal arms appear on the one pound coin, and sections appear on each of the other six, which combine to form a complete depiction.
The royal arms with the crest but without the helm is used as the rank insignia for Class 1 Warrant Officers in His Majesty's Armed Forces.
It is customary (but not mandatory) for churches of the Church of England and Church of Scotland to display the royal arms as the established church of England and the national church of Scotland respectively. If a church building of either denomination does not currently display the royal arms, permission from the Crown must be given before one can be used.
Use of the royal arms and devices for commercial purposes is specifically restricted in the UK (and in countries which are party to the Paris Convention) under sections 4 and 99 of the Trade Marks Act 1994, and its use is governed by the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
The royal arms may be displayed by select businesses which supply the royal household with goods or services and have been granted a royal warrant. But the arms may not be used as a trade mark and should only be displayed for the duration of the grant of a royal warrant. It is an offence under Section 12 of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 to give a false indication that any goods or services are supplied to the monarch or any member of the royal family.
The royal arms are incorporated into Imperial College London's coat of arms, which developed from institutions founded and patronised by Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort.
Several provincial and territorial courts in Canada make use the royal arms:
The Coat of arms of Canada is also closely modelled on the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom.
In Australia, the royal arms are used as a logo by the Parliament of Victoria and the Western Australian Legislative Council. It is also used by several state and federal courts, including:
The current royal arms are also used by Australian newspaper The Age.
The New Zealand Gazette displayed the royal arms until 1946. The newspaper The Press used the royal arms as its masthead until 2023.
Historically, when the Irish Free State established its own diplomatic seals in the 1930s, the royal arms were depicted on the throne behind George V in a unique form by having the Irish harp in two quarters and the English arms in one.
Members of the British royal family are granted their own personal arms. In the past, the monarch's younger sons used various differences; and married daughters of the monarch impaled the plain royal arms with their husbands' arms. But for many centuries now, all members of the royal family have had differenced versions of the royal arms settled on them by royal warrant. Only children and grandchildren in the male line of the monarch are entitled to arms in this fashion: the arms of children of the monarch are differenced with a three-point label; while grandchildren of the monarch are differenced with a five-point label. An exception is made for the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, who also bears a three-point label. The labels are always white (argent) and each prince or princess has individual marks to form his or her particular difference, except the Prince of Wales, who uses a plain white three-pointed label. Since 1911, the arms of the Prince of Wales also displays an inescutcheon of the ancient arms of the Principality of Wales.
Queens consort and the wives of sons of the monarch also have their own personal coat of arms. Typically this will be the arms of their husband impaled with their own personal arms or those of their father, if armigerous. However, the consorts of a queen regnant are not entitled to use the royal arms. Thus Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was granted his own personal arms. A notable exception to this rule was Prince Albert, who used the royal arms (differenced by a special label) quartered with his own Saxon royal arms.
Currently the following members of the royal family have their own arms based on the royal arms: