In English heraldry a heraldic heiress is a daughter of a deceased man who was entitled to a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

(an armiger) and who carries forward the right to those arms for the benefit of her future male descendants. This carrying forward only applies if she has no brothers or other male relatives alive who would inherit the arms on the death of the holder. A woman is an ''heiress'' if *she has no brothers,''The Oxford Guide to Heraldry'', Thomas Woodcock and John Martin Robinson, Oxford University Press, 1988, 1989, or *all her brothers die without sons or daughters.:''A Complete Guide to Heraldry'', A. C. Fox-Davies (revised J. P. Brooke-Little), 1949, 1985, Orbis Publishing, London, She is an ''heiress in her issue'' if she dies having children and the line of her brothers becomes extinct, that is, all brothers and their children have died.

Illegitimate Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...

women who are armigers are also regarded as heiresses, even if they also have brothers. In the tradition of

English heraldry English heraldry is the form of coats of arms and other heraldic bearings and insignia used in England. It lies within the so-called Gallo-British tradition. Coats of arms in England are regulated and granted to individuals by the English kings o ...

, which also applies to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and pre-1922

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

, a man's right to display his coat of arms also applies to his children and his wife (his sons' arms having differencing symbols). His first-born son will inherit the undifferenced (identical) arms on his father's death and pass them on to his descendants. If there is no male line surviving at the armiger's death then each of his surviving daughters becomes a heraldic heiress who holds equally the right of ownership of the arms in trust for her son, who then becomes the absolute owner of the arms. Coat of Arms of Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester

Coat of Arms of Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester

Marriage of an heraldic heiress

If a heraldic heiress marries an armiger, then, rather than impaling her arms on the sinister side of his as would be usual in the marriage of a woman whose father bore arms, she instead displays her father's arms on a small shield over the centre of his shield – an "escutcheon of pretence" – for as long as there is no blood male in her extended family. Her husband never owns her inherited arms, and they cannot pass on his death to any of his sons who are not also hers.

Heiresses of non-armigerous families

In some cases, an heiress of a non-armigerous family may transmit a claim of quarterings from an armigerous family to which she is also an heir (for instance, the only daughter of a family without arms whose mother was an heiress of a family entitled to arms). In this case, her heirs' claim to quarterings through her is dormant, unless and until a petition of arms is granted for the non-armigerous family.

Death of husband

On the death of her husband, her first-born son inherits arms from both parents and quarters them, creating a new coat to pass to his descendants in the usual way.

References

{{heraldry English heraldry