In addition, there are former and existing lands (e.g. the Earldom of Iceland and the Orkney Islands), cities (e.g. Kristiansand), organisations (e.g. the Museum of Cultural History), companies (e.g. Adresseavisen), and families (e.g. the Counts of Gyldenløve and Gudbrand Gregersen) who have been granted the right to bear the coat of arms or derivations of this.

The Sverre coat of arms was regarded as representing the Norwegian monarchy in the late 15th century, and it came to be used to represent Norway on coins and in seals during the union with Denmark (1523−1814) and the 19th-century personal union with Sweden, its 13th-century origins placing it among the oldest state coats of arms which remain in contemporary use.

[3] In the coat of arms of the realm, a heraldic royal crown is placed directly on top of the shield.

However, not all Princes and Princesses are Grand Cross holders or, for that sake, members of this order at all, wherefore their respective coats of arms do not include this achievement.

Storm explained that the claimed lion in King Magnus's coat of arms is unknown both in the older Saga literature and in other contemporary sources.

A lion is shown on the coat of arms in the seal of Earl Skule Bårdsson, dated 1225,[4] who had relations to the royal family.

[5] A royal coat of arms with a lion is finally seen on the seal of Haakon Haakonson the Young, dated 1250.

Approximately in 1280, either King Magnus VI (dead in 1280) or the guardianship of his son Eric Magnuson let the lion be equipped with a crown of gold and in the foremost paws an axe of silver.

The Throne and thus the Royal Coat of Arms was inherited by Magnus VII, who was a maternal grandson of Haakon V and who himself belonged patrilineally to the family known as the Bjälbo dynasty.

Without legitimate heirs of the body, King Charles adopted the French marshall Bernadotte, Prince of Pontecorvo, who took the name Carl Johan.

The union arms introduced by King Charles XIII and Crown Prince Carl Johan were never used officially in Norway.

The union arms introduced by King Oscar I in 1844 was used by members of the royal family, by the common diplomatic service of both kingdoms, and on official documents concerning both countries.

On 14 December 1905 the official design for royal and government arms was again changed, this time reverting to the medieval pattern, with a triangular escutcheon and a more upright heraldic lion.