By Nina Godlewski
Breaking News Reporter
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Less than a week after Meghan Markle became the Duchess of Sussex following her wedding to Prince Harry, she already has her own royal coat of arms. Kensington Palace released the coat of arms, incorporates strong symbolism drawing on Markle's life, Friday.
The supporter meant to represent Markle is a white songbird with an open beak and wings spread to look as though it is flying. On the opposite side of the shield from Markle's supporter is a lion donning a crown representing the prince.
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The side of the shield positioned next to the songbird is blue, to represent the Pacific Ocean situated off the California coastline where Markle is from, according to a release from the Palace. Additionally, the white quills featured on the backdrop are meant to "represent communication and the power of words." Interspersed between the quills are two gold lines, symbolic of the sunshine of the West Coast of the United States.
Golden poppies are shown on the grass surrounding the bottom of the coat of arms, which has a crown above it. Those poppies are the state flower of California, and the other flower shown, wintersweet, is a flower that grows at Kensington Palace where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will live in London.
Markle's coat of arms incorporates several features from Prince Harry's, like the lion and the harp. The palace explained in a release that a married woman's coat of arms are combined with her husbands on the same shield.
Markle worked with the College of Arms to help create the design for her coat of arms, according to the release, and it was subsequently approved by the Queen as well as by the Garter King of Arms and Senior Herald in England, Thomas Woodcock.
Traditionally, a coat of arms was used to help distinguish different families in battle, but over time they changed to also represent families, property, profession and more. Usually, the father of the bride is also given a coat of arms before the bride is married, but it's unclear whether Markle's father got one of his own before last weekend's wedding, People reported.
Markle and Harry will likely get their own married coat of arms, or conjugal coat of arms, in a few years. Harry's brother Prince William and his wife Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton got their conjugal coat of arms in 2012, two years after their wedding.
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