Saturday, 30 May 2026

Three Lions

The crest of the Duchy of Lancaster is three golden lions on a red background. See the attached image. Knowing nothing of heraldry, I cannot say whether there is any connection between three lions for Lancaster and Three Hearts And Three Lions for Holger Danske.

The King of England is the Duke of Lancaster. He must visit Lancaster Castle at least once in his reign to be given the keys to the castle and has already done so. I saw a waving arm through a car window.

As Alan Moore argues, we can see ourselves either as trapped rats or as legendary beings walking streets of:

"...jewelled histories and secret legends..."
-Alan Moore, I Hear A New World (London, 2026), p. 327.

It is down to us.

8 comments:

S.M. Stirling said...

That's an -early- family image. Later on they got really complicated.

Francis Drake tried to incorporate the arms of the ancient noble Drake family (griffins, basically), but they sued to deny him.

So he made his own (complicated) set of arms with a sailing ship as the central piece.

And if you look really carefully, you can see a Griffin hanging by the neck, dead, from one of the spars.

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Paul!

Besides what Stirling wrote above, I did a quick google and the right to use/bear coats of arms by persons, families, civic and corporate bodies, etc., is closely regulated by the College of Arms, headed by an official called the Garter King of Arms (with authority in England/Wales). Scotland has a similar body regulating the use of arms in that part of the UK.

The UK royal arms used to include the arms of France, because of the old claim of the British monarch to be king of France. One of the terms of the Treaty of Amiens (1801) was the UK agreeing to remove the French arms and stop claiming the crown of France.

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

BTW, Dave Drake told me that story -- he was descended from the 'noble' Drakes.

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

I did a quick google, and Francis Drake really did have a claim to use those arms, because his grandfather was a younger son of that other Drake family.

David Drake descended from those Drakes? I thought their male line died out long ago.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

I was at University with a guy who was called Francis Drake, who claimed to be in direct male line of descent from Sir Francis Drake and who dressed accordingly but I do not know whether his claim was true.

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Paul!

I am inclined to be skeptical of what that man said. If I can trust what I looked up online, Sir Francis Drake left no children despite twice marrying. His will left property to his second wife and various relatives, but the document made no mention of any children.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

That seems conclusive.

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Paul!

It does! It's possible the man you met was descended from siblings of Drake.

Ad astra! Sean