The Royal Celtic Society

The Lord Lyon has been appointed a Vice-President of the Royal Celtic Society. Granted arms last year, the Society was founded by a group of worthies including Sir Walter Scott in 1820.

Dingwall at the HSS

Yesterday, Yvonne Holton, Herald Painter and Dingwall Pursuivant, gave a fascinating lecture to the Heraldry Society of Scotland on the subject of Compartments.

HRH The Princess Royal at Bothwell

HRH The Princess Royal, Patron, attended the gathering today of Scotland's Churches Trust, of which both Lyon and Unicorn are trustees. HRH gave a spirited and encouraging address to the volunteers and guests at Bothwell Parish Church, which is full of wonderful heraldry, as well as stained glass by Burne-Jones and Daniel Cottier.

From our files of 70 years ago

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the fine coat of arms granted to St Joseph's Academy, Kilmarnock.

The blazon is: Per pale dexter Purpure a fess chequy Or and Vert, sinister Argent a shakefork Sable on a chief Gules a book opened between two crosses flory Argent

From our files of 100 years ago

From our files 100 years ago: the arms of Charley Tinker of Kilmartin.

The blazon is:
Argent a chevron Gules netween two attires of a stag affixed the scalp in chief and a spider in base Sable.

Lyon at the Irvine Burns Club.

The Annual Lecture at the Directors' Dinner of the Irvine Burns Club was given by the Lord Lyon on the 22nd March. His topic was “The Bard's proposal for arms contained in a letter of 3rd March 1794”. In the letter Burns refers to himself as “A bit of a herald”.

Here is the Bard's own drawing of the proposed arms:

In the course of the lecture, Lyon showed the company the wonderful painting of Burns's arms done in 18th century style by Mark Dennis, Ross Herald Extraordinary.

Earl of Forfar

HM The Queen created her youngest son, Prince Edward, Earl of Forfar this morning to mark his 55th birthday and, I imagine, to pay tribute to the huge amount of work he carries out in Scotland, particularly in relation to the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.

Here is the flag he uses in Scotland - the arms were recorded in the Lyon Register in 2001:

Earldom of Forfar

The Earldom of Forfar was created in 1661 and became extinct as a title in 1715.

It was a subsidiary title to the Earl of Ormond and was a title held by the Douglas Family.

Archibald Douglas was the 1^st Earl of Forfar (1653 to 1712) and his son, Archibald Douglas, became the 2^nd Earl of Forfar (1692 to 1715).  The 2^nd Earl of Forfar took the title at the age of 20 and died unmarried and without issue and at that time the Earldom, which was part of the Peerage of Scotland, became extinct.

Here are the Lyon Register entries for the old Royal Burgh of Forfar and then the old county of Forfar:

The county town of Forfar

The town of Forfar is the county town of Angus and the administrative centre of Angus Council.  The town has a population of just over 14,000.  Forfar dates back to the Roman occupation of the area and was at one time held by the Picts and the Kingdom of Scotland.  Forfar is a traditional market town and was also a centre for the manufacturing of linen and jute.  Today its main activities are agriculture and tourism based around the Vale of Strathmore and the beautiful countryside there.  The town has a League One football club known as Forfar Athletic and is famous for “Forfar Bridie”.

It is the principal county town nearest to Glamis Castle, the seat of the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne.  It was this family of which the late Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, was part.

There have been many Royal visitors to Forfar over the years and Her Majesty The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh visited the town and surrounding area in 2004 and again in 2011.  His Royal Highness, Prince Charles The Duke of Rothesay, visited the town in 2012 and took the salute for the Black Watch during the Regiment’s Homecoming Parade to mark its return from six months on duty in Afghanistan.

Further Historical Material on the Earldoms of Forfar.

The Earldom of Forfar was conferred on Archibald Douglas (1653-1712) by a Patent dated 2 October 1661.  He was therefore only aged eight and the reason that he was created an Earl at such a young age is because he was the eldest son of his father's second wife and his father Archibald Douglas (c.1609-1655) who was the eldest son and heir of William (Douglas) 1st Marquess of Douglas (1589-1660) was High Chamberlain at the Coronation of Charles II in Scotland on 1st January 1651.   Charles II created Archibald Douglas (c.1609-1655) who was known as Earl of Angus as a courtesy title, Earl of Ormond on 3 April 1651 with a special remainder to the eldest son of his second marriage, which means that when he died two years later in 1655 his two-year-old son should have succeeded to the Earldom but did not because the Patent never passed the Great Seal because Oliver Cromwell invaded Scotland so the Patent was not valid.   Understandably as there is an Earldom of Ormond in the Peerage of Ireland a different title was chosen when a title was given to Archibald Douglas in 1661.

Archibald, Earl of Forfar, was a member of the Prince of Orange's party in the Parliament of 1689 and was a Member of the Privy Council for Scotland for both William III and Queen Anne.   He married in 1679 in Lincoln's Inn Chapel Robina, daughter of Sir William Lockhart of Lee, Oliver Cromwell's Ambassador to France from 1656-58 whose wife, also named Robina, was a nice of Oliver Cromwell.   His son also Archibald, 2nd Earl of Forfar (1692-1715) was a Colonel in the 3rd Regiment of Foot.   He was wounded seventeen times at the Battle of Sheriffmuir fighting in the Royal Army and died a few days later when the title became extinct.   Both he and his son were buried at Bothwell near the River Clyde in Lanarkshire.

Seminar on DNA, Illegitimacy and Succession

Rothesay, Snawdoun and Linlithgow spoke at the seminar held at Edinburgh University today on the issues of succession in relation to illegitimacy, adoption and DNA evidence. Lyon, Lyon Clerk and Falkland all attended. The seminar was chaired by Dr Gillian Black, Senior Lecturer in Family Law at the University of Edinburgh.

Matriculation of Arms

The Lord Lyon has matriculated arms for Edward James Hamilton Gaylor, pupil grandson of John Hamilton Gaylor. The artist is Yvonne Holton.

The blazon is: Parted per fess Argent and Gules, a fess dancetty flory at the points parted per fess dancetty Sable and of the First, a bordure Or. For crest, a wing Sable charged with a key paleways its wards in chief and to the sinister Or.