2013 Magazine - Royal Caledonian Ball

The Lyon Office
by The Hon Adam Bruce, WS, Marchmont Herald of Arms
In the early 15th century King James II of
Scots sought to recapture Roxburgh
castle, the fortress that commanded the
Scottish March, or border, with England. In
anticipation of that event he appointed
Marchmont Herald to be his Royal Officer
for the March. Sadly the King perished
when one of the siege cannons he was
inspecting blew up. Happily for us the office
of Marchmont Herald still exists, and we
spoke to Adam Bruce, the current holder of
that office.
“Many people believe that Heraldry in
Scotland died out along with James II, but
they are very wrong. I’m living proof of that:
until recently I was Unicorn Pursuivant, but
was recently promoted by David Sellar, the
Lord Lyon King of Arms, to the office of
Marchmont Herald, part of Scotland's living
and breathing heraldic and ceremonial
executive.
At the Office of the Lord Lyon, who
oversees that executive, there are three
regular Heralds and three Pursuivants,
known as ‘officers in ordinary’, together
with four officers “extraordinary”. Lyon is a
Great Officer of State responsible for the
planning and execution of all State
Ceremonial in Scotland, but his primary role
is as the Heraldic Authority for Scotland,
where he grants people and businesses coats
of Arms, and arbitrates in contested matters,
or where a claim to a coat of Arms is
uncertain.
The role of the Officers of Arms is to
support him in those functions. One of the
Heralds, Snowdoun, is the full time Lyon
Clerk and Keeper of the Records, working
18
alongside Lyon on the administration of
Lyon Office business. The rest of us assist as
time allows. We each have a particular
interest, whether in genealogy, the law of
heraldry, ceremonial, heraldic art or legal
and Scots history. We advise Scots all over
the world who want to apply for a coat of
Arms, or who want to inherit Arms carried
by an ancestor.
The Lyon Office is busier now than it has
ever been, serving domestic demand and
from across the diaspora. We are probably
the oldest surviving court of protection for
intellectual property in the world. A coat of
Arms is a piece of property, marking its
owner as part of the great Scottish global
family, and entitling them to the protection
of our Office.