Swedish Heraldry - Military Heraldry

Military Heraldry

Swedish military heraldry made news headlines in Sweden and overseas in 2007, when a controversial change was made to the arms of the Nordic Battlegroup at the behest of a group of female soldiers who demanded that the lion's genitals be removed from the arms. Vladimir Sagerlund, heraldic artist at the National Archives since 1994, was critical of the decision, saying, "once upon a time coats of arms containing lions without genitalia were given to those who betrayed the Crown." The Times in London noted a recent trend toward heraldic "castration", pointing to the lions passant on the royal coat of arms of England, as well as the lions rampant on those of Norway, Finland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Scotland, all of which have been depicted without genitals; in conclusion, The Times wrote, "some crests are ambiguous, but the message remains clear: the lions are supposed to display courage and nothing else." Officials at the National Archives treat this as a change in artistic style, rather than a heraldic change, and the lion remains in its original form on the rolls of the National Archives,g while the castrated lion appears on the unit's sleeve patches. The Nordic Battle Group's coat of arms was originally designed to incorporate heraldic elements and colours from all member nations, including "a lion that did not look Finnish, Norwegian, Estonian or Swedish." In an unusual move, the Armed Forces Heraldry Council authorised the Nordic Battle Group commander's use of a command sign. This consisted of a bunting divided into fields of blue, gold and blue with a Roman numeral V in the gold field, since the unit would be the fifth mobilized combat unit of the European Union.