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Solaris
07-24-2008, 09:00 AM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/2444867/Prince-Williams-tribute-to-Diana%2C-Princess-of-Wales.html

Basically, Prince William has created a new tradition by incorporating a symbol from his *mother's* coat of arms in his own official one---it's not traditional to do so with female relative's stuff, but he did it to honor Diana.

Hugs to William (both for the females, and for Diana)! :smile: Now that he's set the precedent, more may follow his example.

And in case the link is dead...

Prince William's tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales
Prince William has incorporated a touching tribute to his late mother in his newly unveiled crest to mark his inauguration into the world's oldest order of chivalry.

By Andrew Pierce
Last Updated: 2:46PM BST 22 Jul 2008

The Arms of Diana, Princess of Wales, left, and Prince William's Garter Knight crest Photo: BNPS
The Prince, who last month became the 1,000th Knight of the Garter, has included a small red c or sea shell in the centre of the design.

It is a poignant touch to honour the memory of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales who died in 1997.

Since the end of the 16th century the scallop has been the symbol of the Spencer family coat of arms and it was also used by the Princess.

The decision to recognise his mother is a break with tradition as it is highly unusual for members of the Royal Family to include maternal symbols in their heraldic emblems.

The scallop was included at the insistence of the Prince, 26, who took a keen interest in the design.

The crest will now be mounted above his seat at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle where the Prince was formally appointed to the elite order by the Queen in a ceremony last month. .

It was carved in lime wood as has been the tradition since the Order was established by Edward III in 1348.

In medieval times they were worn on top of knight's helmets in battle and lime wood was used because it was light, strong and durable. There are several layers of 24 carat gold leaf and they are designed to last 1,000 years.

Membership of the Order of the Garter is traditionally given to those who have held public office, have contributed to national life or who have served the Queen personally. The Prince has become one of the order's Royal Knight Companions, which recognises his seniority within the royal family.

The origins of the Order of the Garter, whose symbol is a blue garter worn below the knee, will probably never be known for certain because the earliest records of it were destroyed by fire.

Ian Brennan, the sculptor from Hampshire who worked on the design for four weeks, said: "It is a really nice gesture that Prince William has acknowledged his late mother in the design. It is also fairly unusual in royal circles.

"It is made of lime wood, as is the tradition, and there are several layers of 24 carat gold leaf. They are designed to last 1,000 years. Each crest is unique to each member of the Order of the Garter."

The three scallop shells on the Spencer family Coat of Arms are in white but Prince William's is in red to make it stand out on the white band around the lion's neck.

Peter Gwynn-Jones, garter principal King of Arms at the College of Arms, said: "It is a welcome innovation to incorporate maternal symbols into the Royal Family's arms and it is something that Prince William and his family wanted to do.

"In the fullness of time, Prince William's Arms will change as the Prince of Wales' shall, but a precedent has been set here that others in the Royal Family may well follow."

The Order consists of the Queen who is Sovereign of the Order, Prince Charles who automatically became a member when he became the Prince of Wales in 1958, and 24 Knights Companions.

The Duke of Edinburgh joined the Order in 1947 on his marriage to then Princess Elizabeth, the Princess Royal in 1994 and the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex in 2006 to mark the Queen's 80th birthday. Other members include Baroness Thatcher.


Here's the image:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00779/diana-william-crest_779757c.jpg

Left is Diana's house's crest, to the right is what William is having done. You can see the Spencer white scallops on the black band in the left pic, and the red scallop on the lion's chest (over the heart) in the right pic.

Alan Lynch
07-24-2008, 09:24 AM
While it's good to see another daft tradition broken - by a royal, of all people. Well done - I could live a much happier life if I never heard another Princess Diana story. Oh my, she wasn't in the papers this much when she was alive.

Solaris
07-24-2008, 09:36 AM
While it's good to see another daft tradition broken - by a royal, of all people. Well done - I could live a much happier life if I never heard another Princess Diana story. Oh my, she wasn't in the papers this much when she was alive.

Are you kidding? When she was alive, every time you turned around there was a Diana Story out there---ususally, something fueled by the paparazzi. At least now the stuff mostly veers away from the "let's find a scandal" slant, except for the never-ending conspiracy crap about how she died. Sigh.

(And yeah, I liked Diana---I think she was a nice, sweet person with some very real self-image problems who had both an unhappy marriage, and difficulty living with the nasty side of the spotlight. She still tried to do a lot of good with her life, most especially in her campaign against the use of landmines.)

Alan Lynch
07-24-2008, 09:41 AM
I exaggerated a bit. But there are tabloids out there - The Daily Express in particular, which my dad buys - which have featured her on their front page at least once a week every week since she died. It takes something huge like 9/11 to change the routine.

Solaris
07-24-2008, 09:50 AM
I exaggerated a bit. But there are tabloids out there - The Daily Express in particular, which my dad buys - which have featured her on their front page at least once a week every week since she died. It takes something huge like 9/11 to change the routine.

Must be Britain, then---we rarely see Diana stuff over here anymore, though there was a ton of it for a long time, and even more when she died.

Honestly, other than stuff like this, and things like highlighting causes she worked on (when it *would* be appropriate to bring her in), they need to let the poor woman rest.

Dr Ray Palmer
07-24-2008, 09:53 AM
I exaggerated a bit. But there are tabloids out there - The Daily Express in particular, which my dad buys - which have featured her on their front page at least once a week every week since she died. It takes something huge like 9/11 to change the routine.

Yes, I have friends who referred to that paper as the Diana Express until it took a Bold New Direction and became the Madeleine Express.

Alan Lynch
07-24-2008, 09:53 AM
Must be Britain, then---we rarely see Diana stuff over here anymore, though there was a ton of it for a long time, and even more when she died.

Honestly, other than stuff like this, and things like highlighting causes she worked on (when it *would* be appropriate to bring her in), they need to let the poor woman rest.
Imagine how tough it must be for the kids as well - you couldn't properly get over your mum dying if you were being bombarded with articles about her on a regular basis.

Solaris
07-24-2008, 09:57 AM
Imagine how tough it must be for the kids as well - you couldn't properly get over your mum dying if you were being bombarded with articles about her on a regular basis.

I know---that ALWAYS pissed me off. Stupid hack journalists.

scout1279
07-24-2008, 10:03 AM
Imagine how tough it must be for the kids as well - you couldn't properly get over your mum dying if you were being bombarded with articles about her on a regular basis.

They seem to be doing well in spite of it though. Even Harry, who the press really wanted to position as the trouble-making bad-boy (the nazi thing was in poor taste, but that really was blown way out of proportion), appears to have grown up into a pretty decent young man.

Charles RB
07-24-2008, 10:18 AM
Must be Britain, then

It is. Happens lots.

It happened so often that on the anniversary of her death, Private Eye did a cover of Diana with a speech-bubble saying "I hope they don't put me on the cover just to sell more copies".

king mob
07-24-2008, 12:23 PM
While it's good to see another daft tradition broken - by a royal, of all people. Well done - I could live a much happier life if I never heard another Princess Diana story. Oh my, she wasn't in the papers this much when she was alive.

She was, especially in her last few years when she was spunking taxpayers money on another holiday & shagging dim middle aged millionaires on a regular basis and getting a slagging by the media & most of the population.
Then she died; Britain lost the plot & Tony Blair looked serious in a dark suit while telling us we should be really, really sad.

king mob
07-24-2008, 12:28 PM
Yes, I have friends who referred to that paper as the Diana Express until it took a Bold New Direction and became the Madeleine Express.

There was a copy of the Express last year that had a big 'Maddie' banner on it's cover, while running another huge picture of Diana. This one in fact:

http://blog.artesea.co.uk/images/daily-diana-express.png

You couldn't make it up.

Charles RB
07-24-2008, 12:48 PM
Their next one will be claiming Robert Murat killed Diana.

Alan Lynch
07-25-2008, 06:08 AM
Maybe Madeleine is Diana reincarnated?

king mob
07-25-2008, 07:37 PM
Maybe Madeline was actually abducted by an evil foreign peedo rather than allegedly being sold in a job lot with whatever was left of Shergar.