Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (Both Realms)

The Lion and the Unicorn are symbols of the United Kingdom. They are, properly speaking, heraldic supporters appearing in the full

royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, or the royal arms for short, is the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently King Charles III. These arms are used by the King in his official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom. Vari ...

. The lion stands for England and the

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

for Scotland. The combination therefore dates back to the 1603 accession of

James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

who was already James VI of Scotland. By extension, they have also been used in the arms of

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

between 1837–1866 and the

arms of Canada The Arms of Canada (french: Armoiries du Canada, links=no), also known as the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada (french: armoiries royales du Canada, links=no) or formally as the Arms of His Majesty the King in Right of Canada (french: Armoiries de Sa M ...

since 1921.

Nursery rhyme

The traditional legend of enmity between the two heraldic animals is recorded in a nursery rhyme which has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20170. It is usually given with the lyrics: The Lion and the Unicorn 3

:The lion and the unicorn :Were fighting for the crown :The lion beat the unicorn :All around the town. :Some gave them white bread, :And some gave them brown; :Some gave them plum cake :and drummed them out of town. The legend of the two animals may have been intensified by the Acts of Union 1707 and it was one year later that William King (1663–1712) recorded a verse very similar to the first stanza of the modern rhyme.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 442-3. This seems to have grown to include several other verses. Apart from those above only one survives: :And when he had beat him out, :He beat him in again; :He beat him three times over, :His power to maintain. Lion and Unicorn

This rhyme was played upon by

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

, who incorporated the lion and the unicorn as characters in his 1871 novel ''

Through the Looking-Glass ''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' (also known as ''Alice Through the Looking-Glass'' or simply ''Through the Looking-Glass'') is a novel published on 27 December 1871 (though indicated as 1872) by Lewis Carroll and the ...

''. Here, the crown they are fighting for belongs to the White King which, given that they are on the White side as well, makes their rivalry all the more absurd. Carroll subverts the traditional view of a lion being alert and calculating by making this particular one slow and rather stupid, although clearly the better fighter. The role of the Unicorn is likewise reversed (or mirrored, as in a looking-glass) by the fact that he sees Alice as a "monster", though he promises to start believing in her if she will believe in him.

Sir John Tenniel Sir John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914)Johnson, Lewis (2003), "Tenniel, John", ''Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online'', Oxford University Press. Web. Retrieved 12 December 2016. was an English illustrator, graphic humorist and poli ...

's illustrations for the section caricature Benjamin Disraeli as the Unicorn, and

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

as the Lion, alluding to the pair's frequent parliamentary battles, although there is no evidence that this was Carroll's intention.Picture Origins – Lenny's Alice in Wonderland site
/ref>

Notes

References

* Baker, E.D. ''Dragon's Breath'', 162-3. New York: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books (2003). {{DEFAULTSORT:Lion and the Unicorn, The British heraldry English heraldry Scottish heraldry Lions in heraldry British culture Lewis Carroll characters National symbols of the United Kingdom Unicorns English nursery rhymes English children's songs Songs about cats Songs about horses

Nursery rhyme

See also

Notes

References