So, recently I was reminded that Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, studied illustration
and graphic design at the Ealing School of Art, and that he personally designed the band’s logo.
So today let’s do a little deconstruction of his work and compare the Queen Crest with
the Queen’s Crest, and ask – whose crest is best?
[Music] Ok, obviously this is comparing apples and
oranges.
Queen, the band, has a heraldry-inspired logo and Her Majesty the Queen bears the Royal
Coat of Arms.
Beyond just design, heraldry is an entire field of study filled with arcane rules and
esoteric terminology, and honestly I’m going to run rough-shod over the whole thing.
Because heraldry is the kind of niche hobby that can suck you in so deep that you emerge
four days later on the other side of a Wikipedia spiral, naked, scared, alone and never to
be invited to parties again.
I am no expert on heraldry, so we’ll just cover enough jargon here to serve our purposes
of comparison.
First, for simplicity, I’m going to call these crests, arms and coats of arms.
These are colloquial terms, despite being technically wrong.
People do this all the time with design terms like font and typeface – and frankly I stopped
caring a long time ago – because it really doesn’t matter in everyday conversation.
But for the sake of this breakdown, we do need to get down in the weeds somewhat.
To illustrate – let’s take a look at these arms for the Worshipful Company of Fanmakers
– a real, still-extant, 300-year-old pseudo-guild-cum-private-members club in London, because… of course it is.
Regardless of its merits as an institution – they have a great coat of arms with all
the standard trimmings.
Heraldry is a very modular system, like a recipe, with several basic elements and a
few optional extras in special cases.
The shield in the middle is called the *escutcheon*, and there are various rules for how it may
be coloured or divided into sections, with various symbols within each.
On either side of the shield are the *supporters*, here a griffin and a dragon.
On top of the shield we have the *helmet*.
This ornamental drapery on the side is called *mantling*, apparently based on the cloth
knights used to wear around their helmet which would be cut to shreds in battle.
On top of the helmet sits the *torse or wreath*, and finally on top of that is the *crest*.
A torse was also a real piece of clothing, a headband of twisted material that kept the
crest balanced and in place on top of a knight’s helmet.
At the bottom, the ground or element under the supporters is called the *compartment*,
and at the very base, we have the scroll which contains the *motto*.
This whole thing, collectively is called a heraldic achievement.
Though colloquially we use the word achievement for things earned though merit, not through
[Casino jackpot sound effect] so normal folk tend to use the word crest – which is technically
only this bit – or a coat of arms – which is technically only this bit.
Immediately, we see a few differences from the standard formula.
Instead of the *torse* we have the Royal Crown, and in addition we get the Garter Circlet
around the *escutcheon* with the motto of the Order of the Garter, translated by the
official royal website as “evil to him who thinks evil”.
On the shield we have symbols for the countries making up the United Kingdom, at least for
now, England, Scotland and (Northern) Ireland.
Typical!
England gets half the shield and Wales…
You get nothing!
Good day, sir!
The Supporter Dexter is the English Lion, and Supporter Sinister is the Scottish Unicorn.
Dexter and sinister being Latin for left and right, though the convention in heraldry is
to orient direction from the bearer’s perspective, so like looking in a mirror, the right or
dexter side is to the viewer’s left and vice versa.
Fun bit of lore: the unicorn was said to be an untameable beast, which is supposed why
it’s depicted in chains.
For the crest, we have a lion wearing a crown, standing on a crown, on top of a shield depicting
seven lions, held by yet another lion wearing a crown, next to a unicorn with a crown collar.
For those keeping count, that’s a total of nine lions, and four crowns.
The *mantling* here is notable for having an ermine pattern.
The ermine, also known as the Armenian rat, is a weasel-like creature favoured by royalty
for capes and other ceremonial clothing.
In winter, its fur goes completely white except for the tip of the tail, which is what these
little black markings are a reference to.
At the base have the English Rose, Scottish Thistle and Irish Shamrock in the compartment
and we have the motto which translates to “God and my right”.
Ok, so what do we make of this crest?
Starting with the mottos and let’s just say, these are certainly of a different…
century.
I don’t think emblazoning a symbol of the state with “evil to those who think evil”
and “God and my right” strike the right tone for a modern democracy.
Graphically, it’s certainly not wanting for lions or crowns, that’s for sure.
The depiction of these creatures too, seem particularly uncanny to modern eyes.
Of course, these became stylised in a very particular way, as visual tropes and conventions
became established over the course of centuries, but they’re very strange when you look closely.
These lions have less of a mane and more of a humanoid beard.
Also, the waist to ribcage ratio is enough to make a Bratz doll wince!
In a post-internet-cat world, the tongues sticking out read more derpy than majestic.
That said, things should be understood in context, so here is an older version of the
Royal Coat of Arms from 1711 during the reign of Queen Anne – and I think it’s safe
to say that more… anatomically correct animal supporters, don’t bring much charm to the
equation.
This coat of arms, is deeply terrifying – it’s the perfect set decoration for the fortress
of the obvious villain in a Game of Thrones style fantasy drama.
This lion’s face, looks as though it just ate someone’s face, and is eyeing up another
snack.
It’s viscerally disturbing.
I’ll take derpy “Gene Simmons from Kiss” lion any day of the week.
Speaking of rock and roll, let’s move along…
Queen, the band’s crest borrows a lot of visual language from the Royal Coat of Arms,
with a few twists.
In the centre, we actually don’t get a shield, instead we have a crown, very similar in style
to the Royal crown.
Instead of being encircled by the Garter, we have a ribbon following the same path,
but forming a stylised “Q”.
On the sides we two lions, in very similar poses to the supporters on the Royal Arms.
In fact, the lion on the Sinister side wears the same chains as the Unicorn from the Royal
Arms, though it doesn’t appear to be connected to any kind of collar.
The rest of the elements are a less familiar.
On top of the Q, we have a crab – which, unfortunately will always evoke a hotpot restaurant
for me – but in fact, this is a Zodiac-inspired symbol for Brian May, who’s sign is Cancer.
The lions represent John Deacon and Roger Taylor, both Leos.
Freddie Mercury, himself a Virgo, stretches the astrological theme a bit by representing
himself with two nymph-like fairies sat on branches at the base.
And on top, somewhat disconnected from the rest of the logo, we have a resplendent phoenix
rising from the flames.
Part of me would like to say that the Phoenix is just a little too much, kind of gilding
the lily, but then another part of me goes: what part of Queen wasn’t too much?
Especially Freddie.
Too much was basically his M.O.
Critiquing Queen for lacking restraint is kind of like critiquing Flaming Hot Cheetos
for their lack of nutrition, it misses the point!
But even with the enormous phoenix – this crest still feels pretty well balanced – and
for a rock band, it’s actually not over that the top.
It’s kind of a credit that until I was researching for this video, I never realised there was
an enormous flaming crab in the middle of this logo!
It definitely evokes the theatricality and pageantry of actual royalty, without being
a simple carbon copy.
It remixes elements of heraldry with astrology and mythical creatures, and still manages
to be visually coherent.
That’s a pretty big achievement.
Of course, we’re glad that Freddie decided on a career in music, rather than design,
but it’s clear to see he had a natural talent in the visual arts as well.
So, ultimately, whose crest is best?
As I prefaced at the beginning, this is an apples to oranges comparison, so it depends
on your preferences.
Ultimately – the Royal Coat of Arms is loaded with history and tradition, and how you feel
about it largely depends on how much that floats your boat.
Removed from its historical context, it’s easy target to roast.
The visual frippery and heavy-handed symbolism borders on the absurd when juxtaposed with
the modern reality of the Royalty and its contentious place in contemporary society.
Queen’s logo, and even the choice to call their band Queen, is at least partially a
satirical commentary on this.
The bombastic, theatrical nature of the band played with the tropes and the excesses of
the aristocracy in their music videos, and built their public image around this flamboyance
and pageantry.
It was always part tongue in cheek and part earnest, but it was always iconic.
The logo that Freddie designed fits perfectly into body of work that the band created, and
while it too was of its own time, it will remain iconic.
For me, I will always have a soft-spot for the underdog, and that might sound funny when
talking about a band full of hedonistic rock stars, but when compared with literal royalty,
it’s not hard to make the case.
As much as I find the corgis adorable, Her Majesty inherited her crest from her father,
but Queen, they earned all of their achievements.
But that’s my opinion – what do you think?
Leave your royalist screed in the comments below or send it by carrier pigeon.
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My name is Linus, thank you very much for watching and I hope I’ll see you in another video.