An account of a recent exercise by Patrick Baty to establish the heraldic colours of King Henry VIII\'s beasts on the Moat Bridge at Hampton Court Palace.

1. Patrick Baty
Architectural Paint and Colour
I provide advice on many aspects of
architectural colour
Here is one of my more unusual projects...

2. The King’s Beasts
A Recent Project

3. 2009
The 500th anniversary
of Henry VIII’s
accession to the
throne
Patrick Baty was
commissioned to carry
out research on the
colour of King Henry’s
heraldic Beasts for
Hampton Court Palace

4. Beasts in Heraldry
Mythical creatures were
often adopted as a
personal device or
emblem
From earliest times each
English monarch has
used beasts to symbolise
their descent and familial
allegiances

5. Queen Jane Seymour
King Henry had a
number of beasts
carved to celebrate
his marriage to Jane
Seymour in 1536
These were found
throughout the palace
grounds and twelve
of them lined the
Moat Bridge

6. Hampton Court Palace

7. The remains of King Henry’s
original beasts were
destroyed in the reign of King
William III (1650-1702)
New ones were designed and
carved in 1909-1910

8. Hampton Court Palace
The Moat Beasts were reinstated in 1911
They were not painted – but what if they were?

9. Moat Beasts

10. The Crowned
Lion of England
The existing beasts
on the Moat Bridge
are currently
unpainted

11. The Crowned
Lion of England
He supports a shield
bearing the impaled
arms of Henry VIII
and Queen Jane
A golden lion has
been the royal beast of
England since the
early 12th century

12. Royal Arms 1405 – 1603
used by King Henry VIII

13. Queen Jane Seymour’s Arms

14. Impaled Arms
King Henry’s arms Queen Jane’s arms
The husband’s and wife’s arms are joined

15. I obtained much
information from
hand-painted
manuscripts of the
16th century
Henry VIII’s Crowned Lion

17. The Seymour Panther
The golden “flames”
indicate his fragrant
breath
He bears the
Seymour wings on
his shield

19. The Greyhound
A favourite Tudor
beast
He bears the
three lions of
England on his
shield

20. Henry VII’s Standard

21. The Greyhound of Richmond
with the red rose of Lancaster

23. The Yale
A Beaufort beast
He has the body of an
antelope, a lion’s tail
and horns which can
swivel round to
counter attack from
all quarters

24. The Yale
The Duke of Somerset’s Yale
The arms are: France modern and
England quarterly impaled
quarterly with
1) Howard;
2) Thomas of Brotherton;
3) Warenne and
4) Mowbray

26. The Tudor
Dragon
Used by
Henry VIII’s
grandfather
as a token of
his supposed
descent from
Cadwalader

27. King Cadwalader’s
Dragon
Semi-mythical
king of Gwynedd,
North Wales

29. The Queen’s Unicorn
This beast supports
Queen Jane’s six-
quartered shield

31. The Royal Dragon
This beast
supports a shield
bearing France
modern and
England
quarterly

33. The Queen’s Lion
Jane Seymour’s badge
This beast
supports a shield
bearing Queen
Jane’s badge

34. White Lions
...of March ...of Mowbray ...of Henry FitzRoy

36. Black Bull
of Clarence
He supports a shield
bearing the Tudor Rose,
which symbolised the
union of the houses of
York and Lancaster
Green and white were
the Tudor livery colours

37. Black Bulls

39. The Queen’s Panther
He bears the impaled
arms of Henry VIII and
Queen Jane

40. Heraldic Panther

41. How the Moat Beasts might look if painted

42. 2009 promises to be a
colourful year at
Hampton Court Palace

43. (The Baty Griffin)
Acknowledgements:
College of Arms
Historic Royal Palaces
Sam Styles – SJS Photos
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Gemäldegalerie