I recently came back from my first trip in two years. If I give you a heraldic clue, can you guess where I went?
Okay, not the clearest clue, I will admit. Is this one better?
Here's another hint: here are the arms of the country I went to:
Many of you will recognize where I was now.
That's right! I was off in the "wilds" of British Columbia, Canada.
Specifically, I had returned to Victoria, British Columbia, for the annual general meeting of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada. (Jo Ann and I had gone to Victoria in 2007 for that year's annual general meeting of the RHSC. Alas, this trip had to be made on my own owing to her death from cancer last October.)
I didn't happen to run across any depictions of the arms of the city of Victoria, but as you can see below, there are plenty of portrayals of the arms of British Columbia to be found, especially in Government House, the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor, which we visited while we were there:
The arms of British Columbia are blazoned as: Argent three bars wavy Azure issuant from the base over all a demi sun in splendour Or a chief of the Royal Union Flag charged in the centre with an antique crown Or.
That blazon is taken from the website of the CHA, hence the British spellings of “centre” and “splendour”.*
Victoria is a lovely city in a beautiful setting, and it was nice to be able to spend some time again there, and to see the use of the provincial coat of arms in various places.
* I am reminded of the old saw:
Q: What is the difference between grey and gray?
A: Grey is a colour, while gray is a color.
