Unveiled: Meghan’s very Californian coat of arms
IT IS believed that her great- great- great- grandmother was once a maid at Windsor Castle, before emigrating to the US.
how times have changed for the new Duchess of Sussex, who is thought to be on honeymoon at a mystery location with husband harry.
As a member of the Royal Family and married to the sixth in line to the throne, the former Meghan Markle has been given her own coat of arms, personally approved by the Queen.
While Prince harry has a more traditional design, based on the arms of england, Scotland and Ireland and part of Princess Diana’s family shield, his bride’s is a little more free-spirited.
The blue background represents the Pacific Ocean off the California coast, while the two golden rays across the shield symbolise of the sunshine of the Los Angelesborn royal’s home state.
The three quills represent ‘communication and the power of words’ – references to Meghan’s former career as an actress and her work as an activist supporting several favourite causes.
Beneath the shield on the grass are golden poppies – California’s state flower – and wintersweet, a shrub with a honey scent which grows at Kensington Palace, where she and harry live.
The fearsome lion and the white songbird holding up the shield are known as Supporters, with the former representing harry and the latter Meghan.
The bird’s wings are elevated as if it is flying, while the open beak again represents communication.
The arms of a married woman are traditionally shown with those of her husband, and despite her well-known feminist principles, Meghan’s shield is no different.
The design was drawn up with the help of Thomas Woodcock, the Garter King of Arms and Senior herald in england, who said: ‘The Duchess of Sussex took a great interest in the design.’
While typically a coat of arms is given to the father of the bride just ahead of a royal wedding, Meghan has been awarded hers personally at the request of the Queen – meaning no other members of the rather dysfunctional Markle clan are entitled to use it.
This includes Meghan’s father Thomas, who was forced to pull out of giving his daughter away at last Saturday’s wedding because of a heart condition.
As she is estranged from her half-brother and sister, the only member of Meghan’s family present at the wedding was her mother, Doria Ragland.
As a foreigner, Meghan will have had to record a ‘pedigree’ proving her descent from a subject of the British Crown in the official registers of the College of Arms.
Several family trees have shown that her father’s forebears include Mary Bird, an Irish-born maid who was recorded in 1856 as working at Windsor Castle.