Many apologies to those of you who are very comfortable with your heraldry – I’m having a bit of a refresh and am starting with canting arms which isn’t necessarily a logical place to begin but never mind. Essentially the image depicted on the arms is a pun or rebus playing on their owner’s name. The French call them armes parlantes or talking arms.

Simply say what you see! One belongs to a family and the second belongs to a kingdom – which is a bit mean of me as the kingdom tends to be described without it’s second smaller component. Not all canting arms are obvious as language and imagery has changed across the centuries. The third arms is another family name.