As his first reigning anniversary approaches, King Frederik X of Denmark has unveiled the new royal coat of arms which also appears on documents and other official elements such as standards. The new coat of arms best symbolizes the history of the royal family and highlights the entities of the Kingdom of Denmark.
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New Danish royal coat of arms no longer includes references to Sweden
On January 14, 2024, Queen Margrethe abdicated at age 83, on her 52nd regnal anniversary. His son Frederik X succeeded him. The reign of Frederik X marks a new chapter in Danish monarchical history. From a strictly genealogical point of view, King Frederik is the first sovereign of a new branch, that of his father's Monpezat family. Queen Margrethe was the last ruler of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg family, a younger branch of the Oldenburg family which had ruled Denmark since 1448.
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This change of throne implies changes of heraldic order. For a year, the arms painter Ronny Skov Andersen and the historiographer Jes Fabricius Mølle chaired a committee dedicated to the creation of new royal coats of arms. This January 1, 2025, the Royal House presented the result validated by King Frederik X. These new weapons are a modified version of those used by Queen Margrethe. The royal coat of arms is both the personal arms of the king and a symbol of state, used on official documents.
The first coat of arms of Denmark is based on a seal of King Knut IV dating from 1194 which represented three blue crowned lions, surrounded by three red hearts. The blazon reads: “gold with nine hearts gules, arranged in three pales with three leopard lions azure, crowned and armed with the field and langued gules”. This coat of arms still appears in the upper left field of the coat of arms of Denmark, including in the new version of King Frederik X.
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The Faroe Islands and Greenland highlighted on the coat of arms of Frederik
The Kingdom of Denmark is made up of three constituent countries: Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The three countries are better honored in the new coat of arms of Frederik three parts. These three parts represented the Faroe Islands, Greenland and three crowns, which are the symbols of Sweden. These crowns still appeared on the coat of arms in memory of the Union of Kalmar. During the Union of Kalmar, Danish rulers also ruled Sweden. The Union of Kalmar ceased to exist in 1523 but the Swedish crowns still appeared on the Danish coat of arms in memory of this period of history.
Field 2 now alone represents the Faroe Islands. Since the 14th century, the Faroe coat of arms has been a ram sticking out its tongue on a blue background. Its coat of arms reads: “Azure to a ram argent passant, langued gules and armed gold”. Field 3 is now the one representing Greenland alone. Since the 17th century, Greenland's coat of arms has been a white bear on a blue background. Its coat of arms reads: “Azure to a polar bear passing argent, armed with the first”.
Field 4, which in previous coats of arms was a repetition of the coat of arms of Denmark, now represents Schleswig. The coat of arms of Schleswig already appeared in the previous coat of arms but was in field 2. Schleswig is a part in the south of Denmark whose duchy gave its name to the branch of the dynasty ruling Denmark.
In the center of the coat of arms, King Frederik chose to keep a central coat of arms which is that of the Oldenburg family. This coat of arms represents three yellow bands and two red bands. This blazon reads: “sur-le-tout-du-tout, gold with two fess gules”. The different fields are separated by the branches of a white cross with a red border which represents the famous Dannebrog, the cross of the Danish flag. King Frederik decided to represent this symbol with a cross pattée, as was formerly the case, while his mother had stylized this cross with straight branches. The shield is surrounded by the chains of the Order of the Elephant and the Order of Dannebrog and is held by two savages armed with clubs.
The two wild men come from the tradition of Scandinavian folklore. An ermine canopy protects the different elements and everything is topped with the King's crown. The royal coat of arms has been modified since 1819 by royal decree in 1903, 1948 and 1972. King Frederik therefore continues the tradition of adapting the coat of arms to the situation of his country and in the desire to reflect its origins. The 1903 modification followed the loss of Norway, requiring the removal of the Norwegian lion. The 1948 amendment followed the loss of Iceland, forcing King Christian X to remove the Icelandic falcon from his coat of arms. And finally, the 1972 modification followed the accession to the throne of Queen Margrethe.
King Frederik also took the opportunity to redesign the coats of arms of his wife, Queen Mary, and his eldest son, Crown Prince Christian. Queen Mary has double coats of arms, those of her husband and her own coat of arms. Its coat of arms consists of a red double-headed eagle with a black ship on its breast in a golden field. This element is that of the Scottish Donaldson clan, in reference to Mary's origins. Above, in a blue band we see two seven-pointed gold stars, which symbolize Australia, and between them a gold rose which is a symbol of femininity and beauty.
Nicolas Fontaine
Editor-in-chief
Nicolas Fontaine has been a designer-editor and author for numerous Belgian and French brands and media. A specialist in royal family news, Nicolas founded the site Histoires royales of which he is the editor-in-chief. [email protected]
