Arms
The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom are "Quarterly, I and IV Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or ; II Or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules ; III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent ". The supporters are the lion and the unicorn; the motto is "Dieu et mon droit" (French: "God and my Right"). Surrounding the shield is a representation of a Garter bearing the motto of the Chivalric order of the same name; "Honi soit qui mal y pense". (Old French: "Shame be to him who thinks evil of it"). In Scotland, the monarch uses an alternative form of the arms in which quarters I and IV represent Scotland, II England, and III Ireland. The mottoes are "In Defens" (an abbreviated form of the Scots "In My Defens God Me Defend") and the motto of the Order of the Thistle; "Nemo me impune lacessit". (Latin: "No-one provokes me with impunity"); the supporters are the unicorn and lion, who support both the escutcheon and lances, from which fly the flags of Scotland and England.
The monarch's official flag in the United Kingdom is the Royal Standard, which depicts the Royal Arms. It is flown only from buildings, vessels and vehicles in which the Sovereign is present. The Royal Standard is never flown at half-mast because there is always a sovereign: when one dies, his or her successor becomes the sovereign instantly.
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When the monarch is not in residence, the Union Flag is flown at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Sandringham House, whereas in Scotland the Royal Standard of Scotland is flown at Holyrood Palace and Balmoral Castle.
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Read more about this topic: Monarchy Of The United Kingdom
Famous quotes containing the word arms:
“The eyes that drew from me such fervent praise,
The arms and hands and feet and countenance
Which made me a stranger in my own romance
And set me apart from the well-trodden ways;”
—Petrarch (1304–1374)
“What was it that drove these thousands into the arms of his art—what but the blissfully sensuous, searing, sense-consuming, intoxicating, hypnotically caressing, heavily upholstered—in a word, the luxurious quality of his music?”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; out the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight,”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)