Just days after her wedding to Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, the newly-minted Duchess of Sussex, has officially received her royal coat of arms, CNN reports.
While the coat of arms is typically given to the father of the bride prior to the wedding, Markle received the coat of arms herself, breaking from royal tradition, PEOPLE reports.
Markle worked closely with the College of Arms to create a coat of arms that was personal to her and representative of her story.
A Coat of Arms has been created for The Duchess of Sussex: https://t.co/mJb3mqZfaZ pic.twitter.com/0EgbiS29Rb
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 25, 2018
“A Coat of Arms has been created for The Duchess of Sussex. The design of the Arms was agreed and approved by Her Majesty The Queen and Mr. Thomas Woodcock (Garter King of Arms and Senior Herald in England), who is based at the College of Arms in London,” Kensington Palace said in a statement.
According to CNN, the coat of arms is emblazoned with personal touches, paying homage to her home state of California. The design features a blue background to signify the Pacific ocean, and golden poppies, which is California’s state flower.
Amidst the golden poppies, the design features wintersweet, which grows at Kensington Palace, right outside of Prince Harry and Meghan’s Nottingham cottage, PEOPLE reports.
It also features three quills, which represents communication and the power of words. This is obviously a nod to the Duchess of Sussex’s activism and humanitarian efforts.
Each coat of arms, according to PEOPLE, features supporters, which are figures on either side of the shield. Markle’s coat of arms features a lion and a songbird as her supporters. The songbird has an open mouth and is another representation of communication.
“It is customary for Supporters of the shield to be assigned to Members of the Royal Family, and for wives of Members of the Royal Family to have one of their husband’s Supporters and one relating to themselves,” Kensington Palace said in a statement. “The Supporter relating to The Duchess of Sussex is a songbird with wings elevated as if flying and an open beak, which with the quill represents the power of communication.”
Now that Markle has received her own coat of arms, she and Prince Harry will now be able to receive their own “conjugal coat of arms,” which will most likely be unveiled in a few years, PEOPLE reports. Prince William and Kate Middleton’s was revealed in 2013, two years after their April 2011 wedding.