Royal Heraldry in the Stairwell at Government House

One of the heraldically interesting things that they have done at Government House, the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of the Province, in Victoria, British Columbia, is to display the coats of arms of important visitors: kings, queens, princes, princesses, and, of course, Governors General of the nation of Canada.

It is, if you will, an architectural liber amicorum, or "book of friends", whose visits to and overnight stays at Government House are remembered.

Today, we're going to look at the shields of some of their royal visitors which are displayed in the main staircase going from the ground floor up to the next one.

From left to right in this picture, we have the arms of:

His Majesty King George VI;

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, née Bowes-Lyon (more familiarly, to me at least, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother;

Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, daughter of King George V (1897-1965). for those of you less familiar with her, Princess Mary has her own entry on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Princess_Royal_and_Countess_of_Harewood;

Queen Elizabeth II;

and Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel; born 25 December 1936) the only daughter of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark.

And then we have, also from left to right:

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon;

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who visited in 1951;

Her Royal Highness, the Princess Elizabeth (shortly afterwards Queen Elizabeth II), also in 1951;

Prince George, Duke of Kent. Again, for those of you less familiar with Prince George, he has his own entry on Wikipedia at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_George,_Duke_of_Kent.

What a great way to commemorate the visits of members of the Royal Family over the years!