Coat of arms of Saint Lucia

The Coat of Arms of Saint Lucia, a small Caribbean nation located north of Trinidad and Tobago, was designed by Sydney Bagshaw and formally adopted on January 8, 1979 by order of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The new design, which replaces a previous version of the same Bagshaw adopted in 1967, incorporates in a field of azure a rose gold and gules, symbol of the Tudor dynasty of the United Kingdom; a gold fleur-de-lys, a symbol of the island's French heritage, and a stool of the same metal, a symbol of its African heritage. The shield is supported by a pair of figures (tenants or supports in heraldic terminology) of parrots, the island's national birds, in their natural colors. It stamps a helmet with a posset and lambrequin of gold and azure surmounted by a crest in the shape of a forearm that holds a torch, a symbol of a guide towards progress. At the bottom of the shield is a gold ribbon charged with the motto: "The Land. La gente. The Light" (in Spanish, "The Earth. The People. The Light") in saber letters.

The coat of arms may not be reproduced without the express permission of the Government of Saint Lucia.

History

Saint Lucia was colonized by the English in 1638, became French in 1642, and until 1814 the island changed hands between France and England 15 times, finally becoming English in 1814. In 1838, Saint Lucia became part part of the colony of the Windward Islands, and from 1958 to 1962 was part of the West Indies Federation. In 1979 the island became independent.

Heraldry

The Island's insignia, adopted in 1889, was an image of the island with a harbor where four sailing ships are anchored. On the left pier is the royal insignia, on the right the red insignia. On the base is the motto: STATIO HAUD MALEFIDA CARINIS (in Spanish, An anchor by no means insecure).

The island's first coat of arms was granted on August 16, 1939.

• Arms: Sable, a cross of gold bamboo. In the first and fourth barracks a rose and in the second and third barracks a flower of lis all of gold.
• Crowned with the Crown of the Imperial State.
• Lema: STATIO HAUD MALEFIDA CARINIS (the same one that appears on the island's colonial shield).

After the granting of internal autonomy on March 1, 1967, the coat of arms was modified and increased:

• Weapons: Of gold, a sable bamboo cross loaded with a rondel, on a stool of the same gold metal, in the first and fourth barracks a rose and in the second and third barracks a flower of lis all of sable.
• Timbre: A yelmo with donkey and gold lambrequins, crowned by the figure of a hand that holds a torch and two sugar cane leaves in aspa, all of gold.
• Tenants: Two parrots properly said, all of gold.
• Lema: THE LAND, THE PEOPLE, THE LIGHT (in Spanish, The earth, the people, the light) in gold letters on a black ribbon.

Historical versions

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  Saint Lucia logo from 1875 to 1939

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  Arms of Saint Lucia from 1939 to 1967

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  St. Lucia arms shield (1967-1979)