Thursday, April 28, 2011

Heraldry in the News

In all of the articles that have recently been published as part of the hoopla surrounding the marriage on Friday of William Wales (I would have thought it would have been William Windsor, but apparently I am incorrect in that assumption) and Kate Middleton, and as a part of that the acquisition by her father of a coat of arms, I almost missed one published last Monday, April 25, in the New York NearSay, a "neighborhood newsletter" published on-line.

This particular article, by Pearl Duncan, entitled "Kate Middleton Owns a Coat of Arms, NY Author Reveals Hers," compares Ms. Middleton's new coat with the author's, which was granted by Lord Lyon in 2005.

She talks about the symbolism contained in both coats (Duncan's is above left, and Middleton's, above right), and some of the meanings that her coat of arms has for her, and you get a bit of the feel for the attachment to her forbears that she must have in her writing.  It's also nice to see such a personal and sympathetic article about heraldry from an American point of view.

It's a great little article, and is well worth the read.  (There are also links to related stories of interest in other on-line publications.)  You can find Ms. Duncan's article on-line at: http://newyork.nearsay.com/nyc/other/arts-culture-kate-middleton-owns-coat-arms-ny-author-reveals-hers

4 comments:

  1. Nice site! Thanks for sharing it with us.

    http://www.heraldry.us/

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  2. "William Wales (I would have thought it would have been William Windsor, but apparently I am incorrect in that assumption)"

    I think he and his brother have used "Wales" in the military too. It is a peerage title: can't a peer (or in this case, a son) refer to himself as "ChristianName Peerage"? As a son, perhaps he can take his father's second title as a courtesy title and call himself "William Cornwall" ... but given his step-mother's title, that's more than a little icky! (It also seems wrong because of Cornwall's strange remainder.)

    I have the impression that, as an HRH, he doesn't have a surname, but I don't have a good source, and http://www.heraldica.org/faqs/britfaq.html#p2-1 implies that it's either Windsor or Mountbatten-Windsor. "enjoy neither the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness, nor the titluar dignity of Prince and for whom therefore a surname will be necessary" says that at best a surname is an unnecessary impedance.

    -- Tim McDaniel

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  3. I thought it would be "of Wales" Such as his are styled "of Kent" or "of York"

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