Princess Estelle’s arms and monogram published

On the occasion of her christening today, the Swedish royal court has published the arms and the monogram of Princess Estelle. Both have been designed by Vladimir A. Sagerlund and approved by King Carl Gustaf.
The monogram is, obviously, an E surmounted by a princely crown, while the arms are the same as those of Crown Princess Victoria, with two exceptions: the third quarter shows the arms of Ostrogothia, of which province Princess Estelle is Duchess, rather than those of Westrogothia, which has the Crown Princess as its Duchess, and Princess Estelle has a princely crown rather than the crown princely crown which forms part of her mother’s arm.

Coat of arms granted to the Middleton family

In preparation for the royal wedding next Friday it has been announced (external link) that Kate Middleton and her family have been granted a coat of arms.
More precisely it is her father Michael Middleton who has been granted the coat of arms, but the picture shows Kate Middleton’s arms, which is is her father’s arms suspended from a ribbon to indicate her status as an unmarried daughter.
However, the blue ribbon will disappear once she is married, when her new coat of arms will be placed next to that of Prince William in what is called an impaled Coat of Arms, something which will be decided by a royal warrant from Queen Elizabeth II.

Daniel Westling’s monogram and coat of arms published

The Swedish Royal Court has today released the monogram and the coat of arms of the future Prince Daniel. The monogram (external link) is a rather simple D surmounted by a princely crown, while the coat of arms (external link) is quite similar to Crown Princess Victoria’s.
The differences are that his is of course the male version, that it is surmounted by a princely crown rather than the crown princely and that the centre shield shows not the Bernadotte arms but Daniel Westling’s personal arms, created for this occasion and inspired by the coat of arms of his hometown Ockelbo.
That the King of Sweden has granted his future son-in-law a coat of arms may also be an indication that the King intends to award him the Order of Seraphim. However, the Constitution makes it impossible to give orders to Swedish citizens other than members of the royal house, meaning that such an award strictly speaking must happen after the Crown Princess and Mr Westling have been legally married.

New Swedish royal monogramme published

The Swedish Royal Court today made public the monogramme which will be used by Crown Princess Victoria and her future husband Daniel Westling. The monogramme has been designed by Vladimir A. Sagerlund at the Swedish National Archives.

Press release (in Swedish):
http://www.kungahuset.se/ovrigt/pressrum/pressmeddelanden/aretsarkiv/kronprinsessparetsmonogram.5.62402a8b12475b47cdb80003423.html

Book news: Knights of the Elephant

The University Press of Southern Denmark has just published a huge book on the Knights of the Elephant, Denmark’s highest-ranking order, which is known since the 15th century. In Riddere af Elefantordenen 1559-2009, Jørgen Pedersen chronicles the more than 900 knights appointed during the last 450 years and also includes a chapter on “dubious knights”, i.e. people who have been referred to as knights, but whose memberships have not been confirmed.

http://www.universitypress.dk/DK/detail.php?token=5479035349598&R=8776744342

A similar book on the Swedish equivalent of the Elephant, the Order of the Seraphim, was published in 1998, while we have to go back to 1947 to find a book on the recipients of the highest Norwegian order, the Order of St Olav.

My latest article: The Norwegian Royal Arms

In the new issue of Heraldisk Tidsskrift (volume 10, issue 99, dated March 2009), which has just arrived from the printers, I have a short article on the change to the Royal Arms of Norway when the union with Sweden was dissolved in 1905.
My article is a commentary to a longer article on the same subject by Hans D. Cappelen in Heraldisk Tidsskrift, volume 10, number 94, dated October 2006, where he identified the Norwegian art historian Harry Fett and the Danish archivist and heraldist Anders Thiset as those who worked out the new coats of arm for the state and the royal house, which were then designed by Eilif Peterssen. Cappelen also addressed the question of why the new king’s family heraldry was not included in the royal arms.
Based on the diaries of the historian Yngvar Nielsen, which I read in the National Library some years ago, I can add that Professor Nielsen was approached by the Norwegian government in July 1905 and asked to assist in this issue. Nielsen suggested that one should use the red flag with the golden lion carrying the golden axe of St Olav which had been the emblem of the medieval kings of Norway, but was unable to find a way to include the Bernadotte arms in it.
Nielsen was then under the impression that Oscar II would accept the Norwegian Parliament’s proposal to make a Bernadotte prince King of Norway, but as we know it was in the end a Danish prince who assumed the Norwegian throne. Yngvar Nielsen’s proposal was accepted and in the picture we can see the Royal Standard fluttering above the Royal Palace in Oslo and the equestrian statue of King Carl XIV Johan.
A link to Heraldisk Tidsskrift’s website:

http://www.heraldik.org/