page_title: Lord Lyon King of Arms
section_title: Equivalents
hierarchical_section_title: Lord Lyon King of Arms / Equivalents
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of the crown of Lord Lyon King of Arms with its removable arches in place
context_page_description: The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants of arms, and serving as the judge of the Court of the Lord Lyon, the oldest heraldic court in the world that is still in daily operation.
  The historic title of the post was the High Sennachie, and he was given the title of Lord Lyon from the lion in the coat of arms of Scotland.
  The post was in the early nineteenth century held by an important nobleman, the Earl of Kinnoull, whose functions were in practice carried out by the Lyon-Depute. The practice of appointing Lyon-Deputes, however, ceased in 1866.
context_section_description: The Lord Lyon has several English equivalents:
  Being responsible for Scottish state ceremonies he parallels the Earl Marshal in England.
  The Lord Lyon is the heraldic authority for Scotland, much as the English Kings of Arms are responsible for granting arms in England.
  England has three "Kings of Arms", or high heraldic officers (Lord Lyon is Scotland's only one): the Garter Principal, the Clarenceux (responsible for southern England), and the Norroy and Ulster (responsible for northern England and Northern Ireland). Unlike the English Kings of Arms, who cannot grant arms without a warrant from the (English) Earl Marshal, Lyon does not need permission, but grants by his own power.
  Whilst in England the Court of Chivalry (which last met in 1954) is a civil court, in Scotland the Lyon Court meets often and has criminal jurisdiction. Lord Lyon is empowered to have assumed coats of arms, and whatever they are affixed to, destroyed. As an example, when Leith Town Hall, now used as a police station, was renovated during the 1990s, several of the coats of arms decorating the Council Chamber were found to be attributed to the wrong person. The police were given special permission to retain the display, on condition that the tourist guides pointed out the historical anomalies.
  The Lord Lyon is also one of the few individuals in Scotland officially permitted to fly the "Lion Rampant", the Royal Banner of Scotland.
caption: Lord Lyon King of Arms' crown
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