Happy National Unicorn Day!

 Happy #NationalUnicornDay2026! We mark it this year with the crest of Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope.

We also have some unicorns for you to colour in: https://shorturl.at/5YSU7

Scottish Tartan Day

  We mark Scottish Tartan Day with the arms granted to the Scottish Tartans Authority in 2004.

Azure, fretty Argent, in chief a shuttle and in base an pen book Proper binding and fore-edges Gules.

The crest is a hand in pale Proper holding an ell measure Sable.

Happy Easter!

 Happy Easter to all our followers! Appropriately here are the  Arms of the Corporation of the Town of Perth, Ontario, granted in 1980 before Canada had its own Heraldic Authority, showing the Paschal Lamb.

Blazon: Gules a Holy Lamb passant reguardant, staff and cross Argent with the banner of St Andrew Proper all within an orle of the Second.

600th Anniversary of the Scottish Unicorn

  

Heraldic badge of Uncorn Pursuivant painted by Yvonne Holton

The 1st April 2026 marks the 600th anniversary of the first mention yet-discovered of Unicorn Pursuivant.  It occurs in a charter held by the University of Aberdeen:

There is a damaged 1439 seal of Queen Joan Beaufort, widow of James I and Regent for her son, James II, showing the Queen's arms impaled with those of the King of Scots and supported, at least on the dexter, by what appears to be a unicorn. Why this should be so is not entirely clear as the Beauforts did not use the unicorn as a badge, only quills, portcullis and yale.

 It is was not until 1484 that the unicorn appears supporting the royal arms. The adoption of the unicorn emblem as a Stewart royal emblem (which then becomes associated with a ‘national’ emblem centuries later) becomes cemented in the reigns of James III and James IV, the latter also introducing the thistle.

The current Unicorn Pursuivant, Roderick Macpherson,

at National Unicorn Day at Stirling Caste.

Royal Unicorn of Scotland painted by the late Mark Dennis

From the Register 200 years ago

 From our files 200 years ago today: the arms of Arthur Nicolson of Lochend, Zetland. "Or three falcons' heads erased Gules armed Argent."

World Meteorological Day

 For over 70 years, March 23rd has been designated World Meteorological Day. Here are the arms of His Majesty's Astronomer Royal for Scotland, a post created in 1834 and granted arms in 1996. Bleu celeste, on a pale Or voided Sable between two James Short reflecting telescopes, that on the dexter in bend sinister and that on the sinister in bend, both mounted upon tripods Or, eight mullets Argent (representing the constellation Orion) and on a chief Azure with a fillet in base Or a saltire Argent and in the centre point an open crown Or. You may be interested in some more information as to James Short and his reflecting telescopes: https://www.whipplemuseum.cam.ac.uk/.../shorts-telescope 

The arms are unusual in some respects - the fillet or thin fess only occurs in a few arms in the Register while the specification of two shades of blue is unique, clearly as the Scottish saltire needs a dark blue and the sky has to be celeste. 

Queen Elizabeth's Legacy

 The Lord Lyon has been appointed to Chair the Legacy Group to create a lasting memorial in Scotland to Queen Elizabeth. 

https://www.gov.scot/news/plans-to-honour-queen-elizabeth/

“I am honoured to have the opportunity to develop and advise on a Scottish memorial to Queen Elizabeth to celebrate her extraordinary reign and dedicated life of public service. I am determined to create the space for a truly Scottish memorial and delighted to be working alongside such a talented group of individuals to do so."

Happy St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day! To mark the occasion, here are two related coats of arms from the Register.

The former St Patrick's High School, Coatbridge, granted in 1960:

and The Hibernian Football Club, granted in 2001:

International Genealogy Day

 For International Genealogy Day here is a sample of images from the archive of birthbrieves, reference material and genealogies held in the Lyon Office. The images here show a sample of the assets we hold, maintain and make available for third party researchers to access, research not being a service offered by the Lyon Court staff. In our MS safes, there are 170+ manuscripts, the first 17 of which are indexed online at archive.org (a search for “genealogies in the Lyon Office”), many predating the inauguration of the Public Record of all Arms and Bearings in 1672. Our plan chests hold over 350 large genealogies, many of which are handwritten on parchment. The Lord Lyon Society  exists to support the eventual digitisation of all of these historic muniments for access by the public. 

International Bagpipes Day

  Today is International Bagpipe Day. Here are two splendid heraldic representations of that wonderful instrument.

Maclennan of Maclennan

Rhoderick MacLeod Prior.

Mark Dennis RIP - archive of paintings

Tributes have been flowing in to our dear friend and former herald, Mark Dennis (1951-2025) who died suddenly in November 2025 and whose artistry and generosity touched so many lives all over the world. His exuberant work was so prolific that it will take a long time to assemble even a representative fraction of his work. Mark eschewed commissions but did a lot of work privately for his friends - much of which we have never seen so it would be good if people who have examples of Mark's work would kindly send photographs or scans to the Lyon Office.

First of all, here is Mark's painting of his own arms as Ormond Pursuivant and later Ross Herald Extraordinary.

 

Mark painted two portraits of friends. Here is his 2023 portrait of Lyon Morrow:

 and his 2025 portrait of Rothesay Herald, Sheriff George Way of Plean, bearing the Elizabeth Sword which Mark designed:

Mark's refashioning of Scottish ceremonial dates from at least 1998 when he designed and organized the payment for a new Collar of State for the Lord Lyon, later followed by a leonine crown, both items being worn by Lyon at the Coronation.

At the same event in November 2025 when Mark unveiled his portrait of Rothesay Herald, he also, with typical Mark wit and skill, presented Kintyre Pursuivant with a snuff mull engraved with Kintyre's badge making it the Mull of Kintyre:

Here is Mark with HM The King, Lyon and the Elizabeth Sword itself: the Palace had allowed ten minutes for the conversation but such was the King's interest that it extended to nearly 30 minutes.

Mark painted the Scottish arms of the then Duke and Duchess of Rothesay.

He painted the royal arms many times - here he paints the royal arms first of all as used in Scotland and then in England:

Mark designed the pre-Union version of the royal arms of Scotland for the Scottish Parliament building:

 

He painted many coats of arms for friends - as these are all in private collections it would be good if the recipients would share them with us. Here are two splendid examples: the first is the coat of arms of Fra' Ian Scott, lately Grand Prior of England of the Sovereign Military Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, who was granted supporters and a new crest by the Lord Lyon in 2023:

Mark also painted the marital arms of Major-General Alastair Bruce, Governor of Edinburgh Castle, and Stephen Knott: 

He revived, almost single-handedly, the ancient practice of funeral hatchments..First of all Royalty:

HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother - note the pleurants supporters: 

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

H.M.Queen Elizabeth:

He painted many hatchments for non-royal friends:

Alan Watson

David Lumsden of Cushnie, Garioch Pursuivant

Sir Hamish Forbes of Newe and Edinglassie

Sir Malcolm Innes of Edingight, Lord Lyon 1981-2001

Peter Drummond-Murray of Mastrick

Frederick B.Casely

Romilly Squire

Charles Burnett, late Ross Herald

David Sellar, Lord Lyon 2008-2014

Many people have been brought to a love of heraldry by Mark's sumptously-illustrated book for the Heraldry Society of Scotland, Scottish Heraldry - an Invitation:  

Moving on now to bookplates. Here is the bookplate Mark created for The Hon. Adam Bruce, Marchmont Herald:

and now the bookplate of George Way of Plean:

One of Mark's hobbies was providing artistic and heraldic advice to the Kate Kennedy Society Procession in St Andrews. For the Heraldry Exhibition in the Trades Hall, Glasgow, in 2017 Mark  assembled a scene (under the Cordiners flag) from the Procession, including a magnificent banner of the arms of the Marquess of Montrose:

Mark created a poster called Tournament Mêlée for Historic Environment Scotland:

Next the assumed arms of Robert Burns done in 18th century style

The year-long series of events in 2022 marking the 350th anniversary of the Lyon Register was branded by another of Mark's subtle creations:

More recently, Mark designed the badge for the Lord Lyon Society:

Then we have the crest he created for the 100th birthday of Lord Elgin:

As well as his Kate Kennedy Procession materials, Mark created a tabard or houce des armes for historical re-enactment, worn here by Stanley Bird:

Mark also created the tabard, sported here by George Way of Plean, of Sir Alexander Erskine of Cambo:

Mark created the ingenious arms then granted by Lyon for the Kate Kennedy Society. Here is the lovely version by Annette Read until I track down Mark's original:

The arms of the Countess of Mar:

Mark was also limner to the Venerable Order of St John, in which capacity he painted these stallplates  for the Chapter House:

The arms of Viscount Younger of Leckie:

The arms of Viscount Younger of Leckie:

The Badge for the St Andrews Heraldry Congress 2006:

Mark was Secretary General of the Congress. 

To mark the 200th anniversary of the Royal Scottish Society for the Arts, Mark painted a new version of the Society's arms:

The arms of John Duncan of Sketraw:

Mark's friend and long-time collaborator on many of his artistic projects, Kevin Greig, has kindly supplied some more material:

As a generous "thank-you" gift to the Officers of Arms who took part in Operation Unicorn, the funeral of the Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth, Lyon commissioned from Mark a drawing which was then executed in silver by Archie Stirling as brooches for the ladies and cufflinks for the men:

Here is another of Mark's lovely unicorns

Then we have the fine tie Mark designed for the Heraldry Society of Scotland:

Two more splendid works from the Bruce family collection. First of all the glorious achievement of Andrew Bruce, 11th Earl of Elgin and 15th Earl of Kincardine which Mark painted in honour of Lord Elgin's 90th birthday in 2014: characteristic Dennis touches include the initials of Lady Elgin tattooed on one savage and the anchor of the Boys' Brigade on the other, who is also bearing Lord Elgin's Norwegian Order of Merit. The five sprigs on the compartment represent Lord and Lady Elgin's five children, including The Hon.Adam Bruce, Marchmont Herald whose arms follow.

When visiting friends, Mark thought nothing of dashing off a lively sketch. Here is the famous Wyrm Crest, recorded in both England and Scotland, of Mrs Anne Dawes Edgar:

Another bookplate has come in from Mark's dear friend, Dr Adrian Ailes.

Mark painted the arms of Admiral Collingwood for an article by the late Peter Drummond Murray for the Heraldry Society of Scotland.  

For the same article. Mark painted the arms of Vice-Admiral Norwich Duff

And Captain Eliab Harvey:

Captain Robert Moorsom:

Captain John Pilfold

Rear Admiral the Earl of Northesk

Viscount Bridport

Admiral Lord Nelson:

And now Baronetess Dunbar of Hempriggs - one of only four baronet titles heritable in the female line:

The 12th Earl of Northesk:

The Kate Kennedy Club banner for James VII in the style of the period:

Here is the bookplate, provided by Gordon Casely, of the late Sheriff  David Bogie:

Mark had very strong views on lions rampant. Here is the lovely drawing he made for children (or anybody) to colour in for the "Heraldry for the Self-Isolator" course posted in daily instalments during the first 2020 lock-down:

One of Mark's joys was the Annual Procession of the Kate Kennedy Club in St Andrews. He sent this photograph in 2019 with the description: "Here you can see some of the scrum as 140 or so people clamber into clobber ranging from full high Gothic plate armour to Tudor gowns to tweedy period golfing kit -  all eminent folk associated with the town and uni starting from St Andrew, First-called, himself."

Anotherr fine example provided by Mr Gordon Casely, the funeral hatchment of David Irvine of Drum, 26h Baron:

One of Mark's caricatures - this one is of George Way of Plean as Falkland Pursuivant Extraordinary:

  When The Queen was approaching the point when she would overtake Queen Victoria as our longest serving monarch, Very Rev Sir Iain Torrance, then Dean of the Chapel Royal in Scotland, approached Mark and asked if he could possibly devise a card celebrating the event which he could send HM from the Chaplains to The Queen in Scotland.  

They agreed on a cartoon-style foot race, with The Queen overtaking Queen Victoria but with the road continuing a long way into the future.  

This is what Mark produced and The Queen was amused by his surprise caricature of Sir Iain holding the finishing tape: