[MR] BBC: Kate Middleton's Heraldic Arms

[Evan da Collaureo]

Scripsit Mungo:

> Kate Middleton, via the Middleton family, now has officially approved
> heraldic arms: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13127145 . Not being a
> herald, I can't comment upon the design, except to say is both striking
> and attractive. The shape of the shield is very interesting, and I
> wonder if this will allowed as a variant in our heraldry.

As the article points out, the coat of arms is for the entire family, and thus will be borne as is by her father during his lifetime, and by Kate and her sisters until they marry (not very long in Kate's case).

The shield shape is indeed very interesting: somewhere between a lozenge, a rectangle, a star, and a circle. It's not a shape we're ever going to put on an SCA submission form, but no SCAdian should feel restricted to the shield shape they used on their form. If your armory looks good on this shape, go ahead and make a display with it! As to whether this shape would make an effective *fighting* shield? Perhaps that could be an interesting experiment for some of our intrepid combat crew.

respondit Sian:
>Traditionally only women used the lozenge though I do not believe we have any specific rules to prevent a gentleman from doing so

We have plenty of period evidence for the use of a lozenge shaped shield by males. Female armigers are rare enough that we don't really have much of a statistical universe for them, but from what I've seen, the lozenge is used by about the same percentage of females as the percentage of males that are known to have used it. The less flexible gender distinctions appear to be post-period.

(And yes, this story has been all over the Atlantian Heralds list recently. Astonishing, that. :-D )

Happy <insert spring equinox related holiday[s] of your choice here>!
Evan