Question:
Can the Royal Coat of Arms be used by anyone?
anonymous
2010-07-17 06:34:26 UTC
I have found an old picture frame with the Royal Crest on it, an eye of Horus and four crests of the OddFellows (one in each corner) - would this be a lodge item or owned by a member of Royalty? Any ideas? Please help!
Four answers:
anonymous
2010-07-17 08:44:14 UTC
Theoretically nobody can use the Royal Arms without a warrant; but in practice a lot of people do and always have, and provided they don't do it too blatantly in public they aren't likely to be pursued for it. Friendly and fraternal societies often used patriotic emblems on their artefacts - a crown, the Garter, the lion and unicorn.



I'm afraid old know all doesn't know anything! That is certainly *not* the badge of the Grand Lodge of England. It isn't even remotely like it - click on the link below to see the genuine arms of UGLE.



It doesn't sound Masonic at all to me. The symbol of the rayed eye isn't unique to the Masons; many friendly societies use it too, including the Oddfellows. As used by Oddfellows it symbolises charity, because "that alone can be true charity which is omniscient, and which can penetrate below the outward show of things".



What does the "Oddfellow crest" on your frame look like? In the later 19th century there were literally dozens of different Oddfellow unities in England alone, and they all had different emblems, although certain symbols are common to most of them - particularly the "heart on open hand", though Faith, Hope and Charity, the terrestrial globe, the lamb and flag etc. tend to crop up too. The full emblem of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows, the biggest unity of all, included the shield of the Royal Arms (as well as the shield of the arms of the City of Manchester). You can see it (rather small, I'm afraid) at the HistoryShelf link. However, the motto "Friendship, Love and Truth" is more associated with the American Independent Order of Oddfellows (IOOF); so without knowing what that "crest" looks like I can't say what body it belongs to.
anonymous
2010-07-17 22:38:43 UTC
Uh, no. The royal crest is used by the royal family. In fact, in some countries, there are different crests for everyone.



No. Not anyone can use it.
anonymous
2010-07-17 06:40:43 UTC
It's the badge of the Grand Lodge of England.



You cannot use the arms royal or any coat of arms that hasn't been awarded to you by the College of Arms. There is a court and some gentlemen in silly clothes and even sillier titles who have authority to imprison you if you do. The last prosecution by the court of arms was Birmingham City Council who got a severe wigging for altering their arms without permission. Strangely, the Observer newspaper has been using the arms royal without being prosecuted for over 200 years.
boofuswoolie
2010-07-18 02:29:24 UTC
Oh yes; I've seen it on a string of royal appointed masonic sausages


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