A royal marriage, six months of duchess lessons and now a coat of arms: Meghan Markle has officially been royally inducted into the monarchy.
Kensington Palace tweeted an image of the Duchess of Sussex’s new coat of arms this morning, and we’re loving all the symbolism and shout-outs to Markle’s birthplace. The queen gave her stamp of approval on the royal seal, which depicts a blue background and two golden stripes on the right-hand side to symbolize the Pacific Ocean and rays of sun shining down on Markle’s home state of California (awww).
There are also three quills, which “represent communication and the power of words,” while the golden poppies are a nod to the state flower of California, and the wintersweet flowers represent her new home at Kensington Palace, the accompanying statement from the palace explains.
There’s a songbird on one side that represents the duchess, while the lion represents Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. On the left-hand side is Harry’s coat of arms side-by-side on the same shield as the duchess’s, which is typical for a married woman’s royal seal.
However, contrary to Kate Middleton’s royal coat of arms, which includes shout-outs to the Middleton family (like acorn sprigs for each Middleton sibling and a gold emblem for her mother, Carole Middleton’s, maiden name, Goldsmith), Markle’s doesn’t include any familial mentions. Could this be the crown throwing shade toward the drama surrounding the duchess’s father, Thomas Markle, right before the royal wedding?
Whatever the case, we’re clearing space above our mantle stat.
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