National coat of arms

A national coat of arms is a symbol which denotes an independent state in the form of a heraldic achievement.

[2] An important use for national coats of arms is as the main symbol on the covers of passports, the document used internationally to prove the citizenship of a person.

Up until the 20th century, most independent nations in the industrialised world were monarchies and therefore used the monarchistic style of coat of arms.

In common with many European monarchies, the Swedish arms features a representation of a royal robe (see mantle and pavilion) topped with another crown, which became common around the 19th century (and which can also be seen in the Romanian arms below); this type of mantle does not feature at all in British heraldry.

The lion (sometimes referred to as a leopard when depicted walking; not to be confused with the non-heraldic leopard), being a symbol of power and sovereignty, as well as of Jesus (the Lion of Judah), is a common charge on monarchal coats of arms and features on the coats of arms of all surviving European kingdoms (i.e. the coats of arms of Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain (where it represents León), Sweden, and the UK), as well as several former monarchies.

Double-headed eagles were also associated with imperial power (specifically that of the Byzantine, Holy Roman, Austrian, Serbian and Russian Empires).

Single-headed eagles can be found today on the coats of arms of Poland, Germany, and Romania; double-headed eagles can be found on the coats of arms of Russia (without the ermine mantling and crown of the Russian Empire), Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania.

Australia and Jamaica are examples of countries that have created such a modern coat of arms according to old heraldic principles.

These are often used by countries whose regimes are or once were revolutionary, or have their own local rules on national symbolism, and therefore did not use traditional European-style heraldry.

Many of them incorporated symbols of industry and agriculture (particularly wheat), the hammer and sickle, a raising sun and the red star of communism.

When giving up communism, most of these countries returned to traditional heraldry – see for instance the coats of arms of Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, and Romania.