- Basics
- Dynasties
- Unusual authentication methods
- Techniques - wax and matrix
- Techniques - affixing
- Shapes and preservation methods
- And so say we all
- Changes - the founder’s Great Seal
- Changes - the College matrices
- Seals of office
- Styles of matrix
- Dukes and Earls
- Royal Seals: Stephen to Henry III
- Royal Seals: Edward I to Richard II
- Royal Seals: Henry IV to Henry VII
- Royal Seals: Henry VIII to Edward IV
- Royal Seals: Mary I and Elizabeth I
- Royal Seals: James I (VI of Scotland) to James II
- Royal Seals: George II to Victoria
- Seal of approval
Basics
Wax seals have been used to authenticate documents in Europe since at least the time of Charlemagne, becoming more widespread among landowners in England after the Conquest.
Authenticity and reliability
Seals can be used for authentication (proving the document came from the person it says it did, i.e. that it is not fraudulent), or for proving reliability (e.g. sealing letters so the recipient can be assured the contents haven’t been tampered with, that they are ‘as sent’).
If the image on a seal authenticates a document, the physical presence of a seal can also testify to its reliability. It is very difficult to leave no evidence of substitution when a flap of parchment has been folded up at the bottom to include all the parchment leaves of a document, then a strip of parchment or a length of braided cord is sewn through all the pages, and a blob of wax is then applied to both ends of the strip or cord; or when a ribbon has been sewn through multiple pieces of paper, over which some wax is then melted.
In medieval times, forging the Great (monarch’s) Seal was a capital crime.
Whose seal?
The grand wax pendent seals of authentication are sometimes associated with ‘compositions’ or agreements between two or more parties, but more often with documents that have a grantee and a grantor. In the document the grantor is giving something to the grantee, for example property, a right to treasure trove, a lease, or a promise to provide a service or payment in future. A common form of such a grant is called ‘letters patent’, a document where a monarch or head of state grants something to one or more people who are welcome to show the document to anyone they need to. It is written, hence ‘letters’, and open, hence ‘patent’. Letters patent bear the monarch’s seal and are thus ‘sealed documents’, to be distinguished from the modern sense of ‘sealed’ as closed-up and private.
The grantee might ask the grantor to produce a sealed document in case the grantee needed to prove their rights in the future - thus the grantor is the party whose seal you expect to see. In agreements, all parties seal all copies of the document (except a party doesn’t necessarily need to put their own seal on the copy they keep). King’s copies of the documents it seals for others (to keep track of its responsibilities), but does not bother to apply its own seal to the copies. There are volumes in the archives dedicated to recording these copies, which were once transcribed and are now pasted-in photocopies.
The College Archive has many seals that pre-date our foundation, because when we were given (or, occasionally, bought) the properties used to support the College they came with all their historic documentation about who had given what to whom.
Matrices
The matrix is the object making the impression in the wax (or, more recently, shellac or plastic). The design, in mirror-image, is usually engraved, carved or cast in metal, or carved in stone. Matrices can be:
- a chess-piece-shaped object with the design on the bottom, or with some other sort of handle attached to the design-face, the handle being used to push the design-face into the wax;
- a ring or other piece of jewelry with a large flat face carrying the design;
- two flat design-faces with lugs on the sides; the faces are pressed together using screws in the lugs, or inserted into a large seal press in which case the lugs fit on pins on the press, to keep the faces aligned. This produces a double-sided impression (the same size and shape on both sides, but with different images on the two sides);
- embossing plates on a seal press; handheld ones look like pliers with two plates whose faces meet when the handles are squeezed, or the press can be freestanding on a desk. Sometimes two different designs are used (with wax between) but often (e.g. for use on single sheets of paper) the design on one plate is in relief and the correct way around, and on the other side in reverse-relief so that when the press is squeezed together the paper between them reveals a single design as an embossed, or raised impression.
Methods of attachment
Seals can be:
- pendants hanging from the document on a tag of parchment, a leather thong, or a length of cord or string passed through a slit or holes in the parchment;
- attached to a tongue of parchment, a cut made parallel to and about an inch above the bottom of the document but not all the way across;
- applied directly to an empty space on the main part of the document;
- embossed using a seal press. The seal press is either squeezed directly onto the paper, or around a thin wafer of wax placed between two pieces of paper. The latter impression can be pendent between two small pieces of paper, or with the wax applied to the original document with a small piece of paper placed over it.
Examples of all these methods of attachment can be seen below.
Early seal users and designs
The modern use of seals for authentication came to England from the continent just before the Norman Conquest. Considering the expense of sealing wax, getting a matrix designed and engraved, and producing parchment documents, not to mention having anything to grant that was important enough to require a document with a seal to guarantee it, it is not surprising that the practice began here with the monarchs (Edward the Confessor is the earliest we know of). It spread quickly to the large landowners, especially after the Crusades, with a conservative approach taken to design: royal seals are typically double-sided, with the monarch enthroned on one side holding the orb and sceptre, and riding into battle with sword upraised (or, in the case of Queens, on horseback on parade) on the other side.
The landowners who started using seals in the very late eleventh century nearly always had single-sided seals but the wax is sometimes countersealed on the back (reverse), with a different size and shape of matrix than the front (obverse). This is called a two-sided seal and is to be distinguished from a double-sided seal, which is made all in one go from a double-sided seal matrix. The obverse was often the ‘knight riding into battle with sword upraised’ image like the monarch had, and likewise a circular design form. This reflects the chivalric tradition of sealing - often used for conveyances from the seal owner for feudal services promised or for grants to religious institutions.
From noble to quirky, we hope you find something to impress, in the selection of seals shown here.
Some of the College’s sealed documents are undated but GBR/17 may be the oldest seal in our collection, and one of the oldest of its type in England. The date, depending on which source you believe, is 1096 or c. 1110 when, together with some other properties he owned, Ralph FitzBrian founded a Priory and endowed it with the land and tithes of the Manor of Great Bricett. We show both sides of the document to highlight the unusual method of attachment: the seal is pendent (not unsual), but on a leather rather than a parchment tag; the insertion of another leather thong through a perforation in the tag, and tying it around the tag, are also unusual. The circular design showing a horsed knight in battle is typical for the time.
Compare Ralph FitzBrian’s c. 1110 image, to that of his son Brian FitzRalph from c. 1150 (GBR/23), and his son, also Ralph FitzBrian c. 1162-70 (GBR/31). Brian FitzRalph's charter confirms his father's grant of land by his wood to Bricett priory and his son’s charter is addressed to Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury, confirming all grants made by his grandfather Ralph FitzBrian, to Bricett priory. The son's seal is pendent on an unperforated leather tag, and by the time of the grandson, the tag is parchment.
With the Fitz prefix the family would have been Conquerors, aristocratic, rewarded with land, and they would have brought the sealing tradition over from France, where Charlemagne is credited with making it popular.
The first image below shows MIS/29-30 with an interesting method of attachment which adds a layer of validation. MIS/30 is the document at the back. It is a letter from Peter, a Bishop in France, to Roger Le Foulloy, a diocesan official and is dated 18 October 1435. After that was written (and possibly after it was sealed with the red seal, now much damaged), MIS/29 was written. It is a writ from Hugh V des Orges, Archbishop of Rouen to John (Jean VI de Saint-Avit) Bishop of Abrincensis (now Avranches) and that same Roger Le Foulloy and is dated 17 December 1435. To be sure the writ stayed attached to the letter, the letter had two slits cut into it, the tongue of the writ was threaded through them and the green seal applied (also now much damaged).
SJP/39-40 similarly demonstrates a way to ensure documents are kept together, and reliable. The green (darker) seal is on an 1175 grant of Grendel land by Richard de la Bushee (held of Roger Porter) to St James Priory. It is reinforced or expanded by the document it is tied to, with the red seal: a grant by Roger, porter of Exeter Castle, to St James Priory, of Grendel land, dating 1198-9.
The next four images (GBR/47A,B) are of documents all dated October 4, 1320. The sealed document is a grant by Thomas and Margaret Durant of a quarter of the manor and advowson of Great Bricet, to John de Bohun. The seals, similar in design, probably represent those of the Durants (but may be two seals Thomas had authority to use).
The unsealed document records the fine (a medieval tax, like we now have inheritance tax or stamp duty) levied by the Durants and paid by De Bohun. It demonstrates another way of authenticating, called a chirograph (Greek for ‘handwritten’): make two copies of a document on the same sheet of parchment, write a world like ‘chirographum’, or a variant (e.g. ‘CIROGRAPH’ or ‘crgraph’), cut it through the letters in a wiggly or ‘indented’ manner - hence ‘indenture’ - and give one copy to each party. If there’s disagreement later you can bring the copies together (although I have never seen it explained what happens when there are only two and they don’t agree). In fact this appears to be a tripartite agreement where one party, perhaps the Durants (who didn't need to prove the money had been paid, for they had it in hand), or de Bohun, didn't collect their copy and it was kept by the third party, which could have been the priory at Great Bricet or another interested party.
The King had to approve the grant because it was an enfoeffment and so came with considerable power. Four years later Edward II issued that approval (see ‘Royal Seals: Edward I to Richard II’ below for that document).
Recipes
Shown below are late-19th century notes for making hard and soft wax, and instructions for applying the wax and for using the matrix.
Keeping the matrix reliable
These five keys were held by five senior College officers. All were required to access the strong box which contained the matrix for the College seal - nobody could go off on their own and use it. Once the ancient seal matrices were replaced by a modern seal press, a box was made for the old keys and the Provost's seal, and they were kept together with the modern chapel seal matrix (see ‘Styles of matrix’ below) in the College archives store, where they reside today.
KCD/73 (see ‘Seals of office’ below) is an example of attachment by tongue, created by writing the document, trimming the parchment leaving about an inch below the bottom line, cutting about half-way across the bottom about half an inch from the bottom, and applying the wax onto the tongue so created.
GBR/47A (see ‘Unusual authentication methods’ above) shows the customary method for folding the bottom of the document up and over the bottoms of any other pages, cutting slits through all the pages and inserting parchment tags which are joined between two wafers of wax and the seal applied.
GBR/58 (shown below; see ‘Royal Seals: Edward I to Richard II’ below for close-up of the seal) demonstrates the customary method for folding the bottom up (including any additional pages) and sewing two braids, often different colours, in a diamond through all the pages, bringing the four ends together into another simple plait for a few centimeters, then applying the wax seal and leaving the fringed ends loose. The braids are usually made by the finger-braiding technique.
KCD/110 (seals shown below) is an agreement between King’s and Francis Braidwood for building the (current) College bridge in 1818. The seals of Braidwood and of the Provost are applied directly to the document. The latter appears to be an imprint of the Provost’s 1588 matrix shown under ‘Styles of matrix’ below.
Not all seals are business-related. Shown below is the envelope enclosing a letter of condolence to the widow of William LeFanu (1816-1894, Irish railway engineer and Commissioner of Public Works), the brother of novelist Joseph Sheridan Lefanu. The validation comes from the coat of arms of the author (Frederick Temple Hamilton Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, Viceroy of India 1884-88) printed on the envelope, whereas the small shellac seal - the simple matrix might have been bought from a stationers - is merely there to show whether or not the letter had been tampered with, i.d. that it is reliable.
Vessica and seal-bag
Women in medieval England had valuables to give, and many had their own seals of authentication. The first seal shown below, pendent on a cord and protected by a seal bag, shows a common theme and shape for women: a woman with a bird on her hand, in a vessica (pointed oval). The seal-bag in which it is protected may have been added at any time since it was made.
Vessica and counter-seal
Episcopal seals also tend to be vessica-shaped. This undated example is from Bartholomew, Bishop of Exeter 1161-84. He may have been the first bishop to be depicted on his Seal of Office wearing a mitre.
This is a two-sided seal (but not double-sided where the impressions are the same size and shape). The reverse side, also shown below, shows a counter-seal whose impression is smaller and is circular, not filling the vessica-shaped lump of wax. It is the impression of a signet ring - you can see the shoulder of the ring at the top. It may be the Bishop’s signet ring but it is also possible it is the signet of a witness to the sealing. It may also have been a confirmation applied at a much later date, but the homogeneity of the wax does imply that the impressions were contemporaneous.
Square
Square matrices are unusual for this date. This design also demonstrates that before the use of heraldic devices was regulated by the College of Heralds, people could, and often did, use insignia at will on their seals.
Varnish
Seal-bags were one way to preserve seals; another was to varnish them. Some of the seals in the ‘Dynasties’ section above also show traces of varnish. The now decaying varnish is particularly visible on the example shown below where the wax joins the parchment seal tag at the bottom of the seal. The verdigris sheen is due to aging of the copper used to colour the wax.
This is an elaborate private seal for the date; the seal owners must have been local aristocrats. Another unusual feature is the note attached to the tag at the time of sealing, stating the witnesses to the sealing.
Two documents in the archives show a particularly large number of sigillants (those whose seals are attached). In the first document, the trustees to Henry VI’s will appoint Edmund Wareyn attorney to take seisin of three properties in Yorkshire. Some of the wax blobs have (rare) contemporary parchment protective covers, all with (not so rare) names of the sigillants on the tags where the seal should be applied, and some without any matrix-impression at all, but with fingerprints probably ancillary to applying the ball of wax, and one knuckle print. (You can tell a knuckle print by the dominant line across the middle.) It’s not clear when or why knuckle prints were used but they do seem to have some sort of authentication value.
The other document below ostensibly contains the seals and signatures or marks of all the copyhold tenants of Ruislip. There had apparently been some disagreement with the College about the fines (taxes) it imposed; this document sets out the agreement that was reached. Many impressions are duplicates of others on the document; it was not unknown that people borrowed other people’s seals to validate their signature.
The agreement was re-certified in 1614; see ‘Royal Seals: James I (VI of Scotland) to James II’ below.
Not surprisingly considering how richly he endowed us, the College Archive preserves many impressions of the seal of our founder Henry VI. Perhaps less inevitably, there are at least two versions of his seal. Matrices wear out, the sovereign’s tastes change, they age and/or get married, and sometimes during civil war the party in the ascendant breaks their foe’s seal in order to prevent certain parts of government from functioning.
In the case of Henry VI we show CAM/66, a grant by Henry VI to King’s College of a £10 annuity from Cambridge's £70 fee farm, a 37s 6d annuity from the prior of Barnwell's £31 fee farm, and reversion of a £40 fee farm of the abbot of Bury St Edmonds, dated 1445 and bearing one design of his Great Seal, alongside KCE/990, a charter reciting an Act of Parliament confirming various gifts to the College, dated 1449 and of another design. Compare in particular the figures on either side of the enthroned king on the obverse, and the angle of the horse’s front feet on the reverse, which proves that one is not merely a worn or poor impression of the same matrix as the other.
Also notice in the 1449 seal, the traces at the four ‘corners’ where the wax extruded into the lugs which are used to hold screw devices which are then tightened evenly to ensure the double-sided matrix pressed uniformly into the wax.
The College used its own seal matrix, of silver, until a steel one was made in 1893 by the method of electrotyping, whereby an exact metal copy of a model is made. Both the silver and the steel matrices are shown here. Since 1956 we have used a seal-stamp.
But even that silver matrix wasn’t quite the first College seal. When The Royal College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge (King’s) was founded we took as our arms the fleur-de-lis and lion (for our Royal roots), two lilies (for Our Lady) and a croziered mitre (for St Nicholas who was a Bishop). Our sister institution Eton (whose dedication was simply Mary) chose the fleur-de-lis, lion and three lilies. When in 1449 the King was asked to grant King’s these arms (this all pre-dates the College of Heralds), it was decided that the three lilies looked too much like two lilies and a croziered mitre, so King’s was ordered to use three roses instead.
We had already had the matrix engraved with the lilies and mitre, and careful examination of the arms at the bottom of the silver matrix reveals that the original coat of arms was scraped out, more silver added and re-engraved with the new arms.
Shown below is an impression of the pre-1449 College matrix from the College archives. Why the grantee didn’t keep the sealed document is not known. An impression from the slightly revised post-1449 matrix is also shown for comparison.
Seal of the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Couples marrying in College Chapels need a special licence, issued as a Faculty from the Archbishop of Canterbury. Shown below is the seal of the Faculty office, granting a special licence for the marriage of Alfred D Pass and Katherine O Heycock to take place in the College Chapel, 1911-12.
The double-sided pendent wafer seal shown below must have been applied using a freestanding seal press - it is difficult to imagine squeezing an embosser to get a uniformly pressed impression of this size. This seal hangs by a thread.
The Provost's seal of office
Henry VI inherited the Duchy of Lancaster and had ordered its officials to make annual payments of £1000 towards the building of the College from the Duchy's income, but the payment was not regularly delivered. Shown below are two parts of an indenture. It is a receipt by the College stating that the £1000 was paid in 1448-49. Both copies were prepared to have seals applied on tongues, but only one seal was attached. The seal features the unapproved version of the College arms: two lilies and a croziered mitre. It was not the College seal but may have been the seal of office for the Provost at the time, and suggests that the sealed copy was prepared for the Duchy officials.
Henry VI as the Duke of Lancaster
Henry VI had a seal of office as the Duke of Lancaster, and it is affixed to the below grant of castles, lordships, town, manors and fees - empowering the officials to pass them to King’s.
Counter-printing
The Duchy seal impression discussed above provides an example of a curious practice that appears often enough in the King’s archives, where the reverse of a seal has one, two or three fingerprints or knuckle-prints impressed in a mound of wax built up on the back. They may be artefactual to the process of sealing but more likely they are a sort of counter-seal, perhaps proving the authenticity of the clerk or specialist applying the seal who mightn’t have a seal matrix of his own.
The Queen as entitled to bestow the Order of Merit
In 1969 Elizabeth II granted to novelist EM Forster the dignity of being one of the 24 living members of the Order of Merit. It is a personal gift of the sovereign and the embossed seal indicates she is giving it in her capacity as Sovereign - it is neither a matter of State (which would use the Great Seal) nor for the Privy Council (for which see below under ‘Seals of approval’).
By 1588 the stamp-seal style matrix for the Provost’s seal of office (shown below) had the approved College arms.
The chess-piece style seal shown below has a carved gemstone face showing the west front of the Chapel; it is probably 20th century, but the purpose for its creation is not known.
An Earl’s seal can be just as elaborate as a Duke’s; an owner’s design was limited only by his/her resources. The reverse of the Earl’s seal has a small counterseal showing a griffin, which might have been the wife’s.
The Great Seal is used to authenticate state documents, whereas the monarch’s privy seal is used for correspondence or more intimate or lesser matters. Sometimes the monarch even seals something in some other capacity, such as Henry VI sealing as the Duke of Lancaster (see ‘Seals of Office’ above). So important is the Great Seal to the power of the king or queen, that James II’s abdication in 1688 is dated from the moment he flung the matrix of his Great Seal into the Thames to avoid it falling into the hands of William of Orange.
The archives don’t have a full set of royal seals but we here present all those that could be identified. Some monarchs had multiple seal matrices cast because of wear and tear or otherwise; we only present one impression for each (except Henry VI, see ‘Changes - the founder's Great Seal’ above).
A certain amount of size-inflation is apparent in the impressions. The diameter of the first seal shown (GBR/17, see ‘Dynasties’ above) is about 6.5 cm, and the Great Seals gradually increase in size; the Commonwealth seal is just under 15 cm - only .5 cm larger than that of James I (VI of Scotland) - whereas Victoria’s is a full 16 cm in diameter. Where a grid forms the background of an image the lines are 1 cm apart. Comparison of the development (or not) of the design on a matrix can be an interesting way to approach the development of styles of art in the UK over the past 1000 years.
Stephen
Shown below is the second Great Seal of King Stephen, on a grant of a market and fairs to Bricett manor; 1152-54.
Matilda
Stephen had seized the throne from Matilda, the duly appointed monarch, when her father died. Anarchy ensued while Stephen and Matilda battled over the throne and Matilda was in the ascendant for just a few months in 1141. Though never crowned, she was our first queen and at least for a while, she had a seal with the ‘monarch enthroned’ on the front; the back of this particular impression is blank. The document is a confirmation of a grant of St James Chapel to the Monastery of St Martin, Paris; c. 1141.
Henry III
Grant to the Abbey of Bec of free warren in Ogbourne, Combe, Ruislip, Swyncombe and Weedon Bec manors; 1252.
Edward I
Letters patent of Edward I licensing William Carleton to trade 60 acres in Bricett and annual rent of 3s 6d to the prior of Bricett in exchange for 60 acres of land in Wathesham; 1305. Edward I was the first monarch to use a caparisoned horse on the obverse of his seal (see Our Warwickshire)
Edward II
Letters patent granting a licence to Thomas and Margaret Durant to enfeoff John, son of John de Bohun in a fourth part of the manor of Great Bricett, and licensing him to accept; 1325. Apparently (Our Warwickshire again) Edward II used the same seal as his father, with (on the obverse) a castle added at each side. Possibly it was a re-carving of the same matrix.
Edward III
Letters patent licensing Thomas and Richard Le Archer and John and Elizabeth Burdoun to grant three quarters of Bricett manor to the Bricett priory; 1331.
Richard II
Letters patent licensing Sir Simon Felbrigg and James Billyngford to grant lands to Mr John Felbrigg, parson of Coltishall; 1398.
Henry IV
Letters patent granting a general pardon and release to the prior and canons of Bricet for all trespasses; 1402.
Henry VI
See ‘Changes - the founder's Great Seal’ above.
Richard III
Royal pardon and release; 1484.
Henry VII
Royal writ to all officers to allow King's to enjoy certain privileges, 24 January 1491.
Henry VIII
Letters patent granting pensions of 20 marks (payable from Chalk rectory) to the abbess of Wilton, and £33 6s 8d (from Ogbourne) to the prior of Charterhouse, as both Wilton abbey and Ogbourne priory were suppressed and dissolved; 1539.
Edward IV
Licence to the abbess of Wilton to grant the Chalk prebend to King's College; 1475.
Mary I and Philip
The document sealed with the privy seal is an exemplification, an authenticated copy of an official document, made in the name of the sovereign. This one was made by the court of exchequer about King’s College’s building a chantry at Kersey priory; 1555.
The impression from the Great Seal of Mary I has been separated from its document, ruining any authentication value it had, and making it impossible to date.
Elizabeth I
The privy seal is on an exemplification of the recovery for Sampford Courtenay by Elizabeth I; 1591.
The Great Seal is on an exemplification of proceedings in a chancery suit between Rose Lodge and Peter Francis over a copyhold estate in Stour Provost; 1566.
James I (VI of Scotland)
Exemplification ratifying a decree in the court of chancery acknowledging the Ruislip tenants’ confirmation (RUI/32, see above); 1614.
Interregnum/Commonwealth
During the Commonwealth a depiction of Parliament in session and a map replaced the traditional enthroned-on-the-front and on-horseback-on-the-back paradigm.
This impression is attached to a warrant for £25 to be paid in satisfaction of £10 in annuity arrears, in the 2 tun Gascon wine annuity granted to King’s by Henry VI; 1655.
Charles II
Letters patent concerning Eton Fellowships and King’s; 1670.
James II
Letters patent concerning Eton Fellowships and King’s; 1686.
George II
This is a 1749 record that a grant dating from 1556 was being enrolled in chancery (in 1749). The 1556 grant was a £5 annuity from John Flanning, payable out of his Walkhampton manor; 1749.
George III
Privy seal on an exemplification of an earlier recovery between Robert Chester, demandent, Edmund Estcourt, tenant, and George Hardinge, vouchee; 1781.
Victoria
Licence to King’s buy Tile Kiln Farm in Great Bricet, along with lands in Grantchester, by mortmain; 1842. The wax impression has been conserved in the modern fashion, so that the restoration is apparent (and reversible), without attempting to restore or recreate the image.
Amendments to King’s College’s statutes must be approved in Privy Council. The first amendments were made in Victoria’s reign, by which time authentication was via a wax wafer applied over a ribbon for multiple pages, or embossed directly onto a single sheet with a seal-press. The ribbon performs the function that tongues or tags once did: indicating that the document is reliable, i.e. has not been tampered with since the seal was applied.
The design of the privy seal undergoes subtle changes from monarch to monarch - the shape of the crown for example, shows that they didn’t just re-cut the existing seal. It does take time to get all the necessary seals updated, and a new monarch often used the seal of his/her predecessor until the new seal was produced. The document with black ribbon dates from two and a half months into the reign of George V but it uses his father’s seal, and Elizabeth II was still using her father’s seal 18 months after he had died.
Finally, if GBR/17 is our oldest, KCS/92 is probably our youngest seal, again ratifying amendments to the College statutes.
Legends:
Victoria Dei gratia Britanniarum regina fidei defensor
Edwardus VII D [G] Britanniarum omnium rex F: D: Ind: Imp:
Georgius V D: G: Britanniarum omnium rex F: D: Ind: Imp:
Georgius VI D: G: Mag: Br: Hib: et Terr: Transmar: quae in dit: sunt Brit rex. F: D. Ind: Imp.
Elizabeth II D. G. Britt. R.Q.S.C. regina + c.p. princeps + F: D.
Elizabeth’s legend in full is:
Elizabeth Secunda Dei Gratia Britanniarum Regnorumque Suorum Ceterorum Regina Consortionis Populorum Princeps Fidei Defensor
Elizabeth II by the Grace of God, of the Britains and her other realms, Queen, Head of the Commonwealth of Nations, Defender of the Faith.
