An Explanation of (British) Heraldic Crowns, Hats, and Headgear.
The Crown is the representation of the monarchy in the United Kingdom, as it is in a great many countries, and so has been used to represent various levels of authority across the nation at an heraldic level. This has lead to the development of a fair few different types of heraldic crown over the centuries, among a few other types of hat which have been picked up with them. For convenience I have included here as complete a list as possible of the heraldic headgear found in the heraldry of the United Kingdom.
The most common crowns seen in British heraldry are those belonging to the sovereign. Precedent since Queen Victoria dictates that the St. Edward’s Crown is used for queens and the Imperial Crown is used for kings, however since India has become a republic and the Imperial titles have been dropped since the last man was crowned king it is possible that either the St. Edward’s Crown will be used (because we’re used to it and it’s so entrenched in government and royal branding) or that the Tudor Crown will become the new face of the monarchy (as Prince Charles has expressed a willingness to make a change to royal symbolism). This will almost certainly be the most minor detail of the change in eras, with only the font of Charles III’s royal cypher beneath it. St. Edward’s Crown is used in England, Wales, and most of the Commonwealth realms such as Canada and New Zealand in heraldic emblems. However Scotland has her own crown just as she has her own arms, which is used by Royal Mail in Scotland, and in various other places where St. Edward’s Crown might be used in the rest of the UK.
When used in heraldry the crowns of the sovereign appear above the helmet (and always a front-facing golden royal helm), contrary to the position of most other crowns beneath the helm. In the United Kingdom the crest stands atop the crown, however some examples such as the Arms of Canada the sovereign's crown appears floating above the crest, or even sitting atop the crest in various Canadian examples including Alberta and New Brunswick. In the case of New Zealand, and the Royal Badge of Wales, St. Edward’s Crown takes the place of both crest and helm entirely.
These crowns have also been used as charges, particularly as augmentations of honour — changes to a coat of arms granted to reward a particular action. An example is the Earl of Kintore, who was granted a Scottish royal crown in his coat of arms to commemorate his keeping of the Scottish crown jewels during the interregnum. More modern examples include the presence of the St. Edward’s Crown in the grants of arms made to Governor Generals of Canada, who represent the Crown in the country.
Moving down the ranks we reach the coronets used by various members of the royal family. The Prince of Wales bears an impressive coat of arms, where the coronet of the Prince of Wales is treated in the same manner as the crown of a sovereign, sitting atop the royal helm, and again atop the central arms of Wales and those of the Duchy of Cornwall (both in the Prince’s full achievement and in the Duchy’s own achievement).
The other royal coronets are treated as normal and sit atop the shield and with the helm issuing from them. Royal cyphers generally use a simpler design of the same crown.
While not many people have been eligible to the crowns and coronets discussed thus far, this next selection covers just about everybody in the country. According to Debretts there are: 30 Dukes; 34 Marquesses; 191 Earls; 115 Viscounts; 435 hereditary Barons, and around 650 life peerages; and despite various definitions being produced over the centuries the remaining 66 million of us can probably be listed as gentlemen (and women). Commoners don’t get a crown of rank, however the rest do, and there is as you can see a mad selection of strawberry leaves and pearls around the place. These are amazingly all real things, and not just the creations of heraldry seeking minor differences to denote rank. These coronets all sit below the helm, as with the royal coronets, as can be seen in this very 60s emblazonment of the arms of the Earl of Carlisle.
The Kings of Arms from both the College of Arms in London and the Court of the Lord Lyon in Edinburgh bear crowns. Boutell’s Heraldry describes and depicts a single crown of a King of Arms (being the one on the left above) however the Lord Lyon uses the crown on the right, which is evidently unique to the Lord Lyon, so I thought it worth including as a separate crown. These crowns appear on the seals on a grant of arms.
While there are various different forms of ecclesiastical heraldry across the nations and denominations of the world, those of the Church of England are unique to England, so I have included them here, in our first foray outside of crowns and coronets and into hats. There was no set heraldic system for members of the clergy below Bishops in England until 1976, when the College of Arms came up with the present one, largely based on practice in the 16th century. Until 1976 it was considered proper for the clergy to bear arms featuring helmets and crests, in a deviation from standard heraldic tradition which held that the clergy should not bear elements of war such as helmets (though of course shields were okay…).
The College’s decision in 1976 was that priests could use a black and white cord with a single tassle; deacons a hat (galero) without tassles; and everyone up to bishops a hat with a cord (in black or violet) and three tassles (in black, red, or violet). Interestingly, a Doctor of Divinity — who need not be a member of the clergy — is entitled to a red and black cord and a single tassle, and a “hat appropriate to the degree.” This is a rare case in England of the College of Arms sanctioning a new form of hat, however the wide-reaching implications of heraldic hats related to university education have thus far made little impact, though is perhaps more popular in America. For a little on the use of doctoral hats see here.
Bishops are of course entitled to bear on their coat of arms a green galero with a shocking number of tassles, and this is the usual practice in the Roman Catholic Church. In the Church of England however they generally bear mitres over their arms. I should point out that the selection of mitres above are both fanciful in the assertion that their differences are greatly meaningful and in that they might actually be used by any bishop’s coat of arms. These could likely only be used if the bishop’s personal arms were being quartered with those of the diocese, nonetheless they are an enjoyable selection.
Moving further down the ranks and (almost) into the hoi-polloi, we reach the cap of maintenance. In Scotland these are rigidly given purpose and their colour and fur type will explain the rank of the bearer of a coat of arms, as is seen here, and while somewhat sad I do still find the blue one amusing, as if the Lord Lyon has come to add insult to the injury of losing your ancestral estate by making it public and obvious (here it is in use in a particularly nice Lyon emblazonment). In England the cap of maintenance is increasingly used in lieu of a torse for the ordinary rank and file, as seen in the arms of Sir. Max Bingham and Nicholas Schaerf.
The naval and astral crowns here are examples of crowns which can be granted to individuals for particular service in the navy or the air force respectively (and appearing on Royal Navy ship badges and RAF Squadron badges). There also exists the mural crown for service in the army, however that shall largely come later. These are a Roman invention, and were granted to soldiers and generals long before the invention of what we would now call heraldry around 1200, demonstrating the amalgamation of earlier tradition into heraldry. In Canada there are two loyalist crowns, which form a similar purpose and are granted to those who can prove descent from Americans loyal to the British Crown during the revolution.
Crowns are widespread in civic heraldry in the UK, though (at least outside of Scotland) they are not as standardised as in many European countries. The precedence of a mural crown for councils was made with the grant of arms to the London County Council, with a mural crown in lieu of a crest. This carried on for many city, borough, and county councils, the mural crown beginning to denote a local authority of some form. Mural crowns became differenced, with the addition of symbols on the battlements or sails above them; or sometimes with a design specified such as Dorset County Council’s three towers. A great many English councils also use the Saxon crown, which arguably has become as much of a denotation of a council in a coat of arms as the mural crown was previously.
In Scotland, the Lord Lyon was more organised when it came to the heraldry of local government in the kingdom, and a standard set of crowns was created with different designs for different types of council. This produced a much more cohesive design for the Scottish councils, and perhaps is an approach which the College of Arms should have adopted for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, with different forms of mural crowns for boroughs, cities, and metropolitan counties, and the Saxon crown for the rural counties and districts.
The College of Arms in actuality did the precise opposite, and from the 1950s onwards, and particularly following the 1974 reorganisation of local government in England into a two-tier system of Counties and Districts, it began to grant unique crowns to councils. I considered attempting to create something close to a complete selection of these, however on looking at some decided that there were in fact better uses of my time, such as revising for my A-Levels. While the side of me who wants some logic to civic heraldry sides absolutely with Scotland and demands further rigidity of the system and changes to arms, I have to admit that I do enjoy some of these, such as Kennet District Council’s crown made out of a stone circle.
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There are a few other examples of hats in heraldry, such as the City of London’s former Muscovy hat, and a fair selection from caps of liberty to Papal tiaras on the continent, however this has hopefully covered the vast majority of crowns and hats which appear in British heraldry.
