Crown cannot over-rule the laws of heraldry

[Graham Milne]

This is interesting and I invite comments. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert wanted a coat of arms drawn up which quartered the arms of Saxony. Basically, the Earl Marshall refused...

http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/prince_highness_docs.htm

The Complete Peerage, vol. 14

The Greville Memoirs, 1938, vol. 4, p. 432-33:

Peel, however, is not disposed to let the thing be thus hurried over; he thinks that it is a matter in which the dignity of the Crown is concerned, and that whatever is done should be done with deliberation, and that if the Privy Council are to advise, they ought to advise what is right and becoming, and not merely what She and the Prince wish. The difficulty, therefore, is, how to set the matter going. The Earl Marshal will not stir without an order to do so. If the Home Office order him to submit a draft of the armorial bearings of the Prince of Wales, they can only order him to make out what is right according to the rules and laws of Heraldry, and the Earl Marshal is of opinion that what the Q. and Prince wish to be done is inconsistent with those rules. The matter therefore remains in suspense.

[The Chief]

Post by Graham Milne
This is interesting and I invite comments. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert wanted a coat of arms drawn up which quartered the arms of Saxony. Basically, the Earl Marshall refused...
http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/prince_highness_docs.htm
The Complete Peerage, vol. 14
Peel, however, is not disposed to let the thing be thus hurried over; he thinks that it is a matter in which the dignity of the Crown is concerned, and that whatever is done should be done with deliberation, and that if the Privy Council are to advise, they ought to advise what is right and becoming, and not merely what She and the Prince wish. The difficulty, therefore, is, how to set the matter going. The Earl Marshal will not stir without an order to do so. If the Home Office order him to submit a draft of the armorial bearings of the Prince of Wales, they can only order him to make out what is right according to the rules and laws of Heraldry, and the Earl Marshal is of opinion that what the Q. and Prince wish to be done is inconsistent with those rules. The matter therefore remains in suspense.

Given that we all know that the "rules" of heraldry are arbitrary and can be broken at will, it is evident that this is simply a smokescreen. A smokescreen to cover the fact that they simply did not want to change the arms of the UK to include Saxony. Said UK arms were created pursuant to an Act of Parliament, so I believe it would take another Act to change them. Which brings up an issue I have long meant to raise - the validity of the inescutcheon for Saxony used for some time in the UK.

Regards,
The Chief

[o***@gmail.com]

Certainly the British government of the time and the College of Arms thought the inclusion of the Saxon inescutcheon for junior members of the British Royal Family was inappropriate.