Coat of arms of Denmark


The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Denmark has a lesser and a greater version.
The state coat of arms of the Kingdom consists of three pale blue lions passant wearing crowns, accompanied by nine red lilypads, all in a golden shield with the royal crown on top.
The national coat of arms of Denmark proper is similar to the state coat of arms, but without the royal crown above the shield.
It is historically the coat of arms of the House of Estridsen, the dynasty which provided the kings of Denmark between 1047 and 1412. The current design was introduced in 1819, under Frederick VI. Previously, there had been no distinction between the "national" and the "royal" coat of arms. Since 1819, there has been a more complex royal coat of arms of Denmark separate from the national coat of arms.

History

The oldest known depiction of the insignia dates from a seal used by King Canute VI. The oldest documentation for the colours dates from c. 1270.
Historically, the lions faced the viewer and the number of hearts was not regulated and could be much higher. The "heart" shapes originally represented waterlily pads; a royal decree of 1972 still specifies these figures as seeblatt.
The current design was adopted in 1819 during the reign of King Frederick VI who fixed the number of hearts to nine and decreed that the heraldic beasts were lions, consequently facing forward.
A rare version exists from the reign of king Eric of Pomerania in which the three lions jointly hold the Danish banner, in a similar fashion as in the coat of arms of the former South Jutland County.
Until, Denmark used both a "small" and a "large" coat of arms, similar to the system still used in Sweden. The latter symbol held wide use within the government administration, e.g., by the Foreign Ministry. Since this time, the latter symbol has been classified as the coat of arms of the royal family, leaving Denmark with only one national coat of arms, used for all official purposes.
The crown on the shield is a heraldic construction based on the crown of King Christian V, not to be confused with the crown of King Christian IV. The main difference from the real crown is that the latter is covered with table cut diamonds rather than pearls. Both crowns, and other royal insignia, are located in Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen.
The blazon in heraldic terms is: Or, three lions passant in pale azure crowned and armed Or langued gules, nine hearts Gules.
This insignia is almost identical to the coat of arms of Estonia and the greater coat of arms of Tallinn which can both be traced directly back to King Valdemar II and the Danish rule in northern Estonia in 1219–1346. The main differences are as follows: In the Danish coat of arms the lions are crowned, face forward, and accompanied by nine hearts. In the Estonian coat of arms, the "leopards" still face the viewer, they are not crowned, and no hearts are present. The coat of arms of Tallinn resembles the Estonian arms, but the leopards in the former arms are crowned with golden crowns similar to the ones in the Danish arms. It shows great similarities with the contemporary insignia of England's Richard the Lionheart and the current arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The Danish coat of arms has also been the inspiration for the coat of arms of the former Duchy of Schleswig, a former Danish province. The hearts of the coat of arms also appear in the coat of arms of the German district of Lüneburg.

Royal Coat of Arms

The Royal Coat of Arms is more complex. The current version was established by royal decree 5 July 1972.
The shield is quartered by a silver cross fimbriated in red, derived from the Danish flag, the Dannebrog. The first and fourth quarters represent Denmark by three crowned lions passant accompanied by nine hearts; the second quarter contains two lions passant representing Schleswig, a former Danish province now divided between Denmark and Germany; the third quarter contains a total of three symbols. The Three Crowns are officially interpreted as a symbol of the former Kalmar Union.
The silver ram on blue represents the Faroe Islands and the similarly coloured polar bear represents Greenland.
The centre escutcheon, two red bars on a golden shield, represents the House of Oldenburg, the former royal dynasty that ruled Denmark and Norway from the middle of the fifteenth century. When the senior branch of this dynasty became extinct in 1863, the crown passed to Prince Christian of the cadet branch Glücksburg, whose descendants have reigned in Denmark ever since. The House of Glücksburg continues the use of the arms of the old Oldenburg dynasty, and the symbol is still officially referred to by its old association.
Two woodwoses act as supporters; this element can be traced back to the early reign of the Oldenburg dynasty.
Similar supporters were used in the former arms of Prussia. The shield features the insignias of the Order of the Dannebrog and the Order of the Elephant around it.
The shield and supporters are framed by a royal ermine robe, surmounted by a royal crown.
A blazon in heraldic terms is: A shield quartered by a cross argent fimbriated gules, first and fourth quarter Or, three lions passant in pale azure crowned and armed Or langued gules, nine hearts gules ; second quarter Or, two lions passant in pale azure armed Or langued gules ; third quarter azure, party per fess, in base per pale; in chief three crowns Or, in dexter base a ram passant argent armed and unguled Or, in sinister base a polar bear rampant argent. Overall an escutcheon Or two bars gules the whole surrounded by the Collars of the Order of the Dannebrog and the Order of the Elephant. Supporters two woodwoses armed with clubs Proper standing on a pedestal. All surrounded by a mantle gules doubled ermine crowned with a royal crown and tied up with tasseled strings Or.
The royal coat of arms has since around 1960 been reserved exclusively for use by the Monarch, the royal family, the Royal Guards and the royal court according to royal decree. A select number of purveyors to the Danish royal family are also allowed to use the royal insignia.

Historical versions

In late medieval heraldry, coats of arms that used to be associated with noble families became attached to the territories that had been ruled by these families, and coats of arms used by individual rulers were composed of the coats of arms of the territories they ruled. In the case of Denmark, the coat of arms of the House of Estridsen with the extinction of the dynasty became the "coat of arms of Denmark". Olaf II of Denmark succeeded his maternal grandfather Valdemar IV in 1376. He was the first king to rule Norway and Denmark in personal union. Olaf on his seal still displayed the Estridsen and Sverre coats of arms in two separate shields. The custom of dividing the field arises with Eric of Pomerania at the end of the 14th century.
The modern "royal coat of arms of Denmark" is the continuation of this tradition of the Danish monarch using his or her personal coat of arms after the end of the personal union of Denmark and Norway.
in the 1420s showing the arms of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Pomerania. The original flag was destroyed in World War II during a British attack on the city, but a 19th-century copy remains in Frederiksborg Palace, Denmark. The saint accompanying the Virgin Mary and infant Christ is Saint James the Greater, identified by his scallop shell emblem.
of hearts rather than showing only nine.
The current version of the arms, established by royal decree 5 July 1972, is greatly simplified from the previous version which contained seven additional sub-coats representing five territories formerly ruled by the Danish kings and two medieval titles: Holstein, Stormarn, Dithmarschen, Lauenburg, Delmenhorst, and King of the Wends and Goths.
A crowned silver stockfish on red was formerly included to represent Iceland, but due to Icelandic opposition, this symbol was replaced in 1903 by a silver falcon on blue. The falcon was in turn removed from the royal arms in 1948 following the death of King Christian X in 1947 and reflecting the 1944 breakup of the Dano-Icelandic union.
The following list is based on the research by Danish heraldist, Erling Svane. Danish names are shown in brackets.

Government

Various versions of the Danish Royal Arms are used by the Kingdom: Government, the Parliament and courts. The Kingdom Government and its agencies generally use a simplified version of the Royal Arms without the mantle, the pavilion and the topped royal crown. This simplified Royal Arms also feature on the cover of passports, embassies and consulates of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Other members of the Royal Family

Gallery

Elements currently used in the arms

Elements formerly used in the arms

Related symbols