Heraldry in the Fog of War: The Personal Arms of Zita, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary

Historical

25 Nov

One would think that in the midst of WWI, heraldry would be less of a priority. However, many arms and flags were changed during the war. The arms this article will concentrate on is one of the least known; namely the arms of Empress Zita. Although no traces can be found of a grant of her arms in the archives of Vienna or Budapest, I was able to scrape together enough information to write an article.

Empress Zita’s Desk Seal (picture by Tudor-Radu Tiron)

Wax impression from Empress Zita’s signet (1922), Hungarian National Archives, MNL OL K 589–I–A–4–1922

Empress Zita’s arms on a wooden gift box

Empress Zita was born into the House of Bourbon-Parma. As such she was entitled to the use of the arms associated with her House which can be seen on the right (sinister) side of the medallion below.

Souvenir medallion made for the occasion of Archduke Karl and Princess Zita’s wedding from 1911

As Empress and Queen, Zita’s predecessor - Empress Elizabeth - also bore personal armorial bearings. According to Hugo G. Ströhl, whose famous depiction can be seen below, the Empress was granted arms on 14 March 1887 which I haven’t yet been able to locate in the archives. As Empress Elizabeth’s ancestral arms were rather simple, they could be elegantly impaled (though not a proper impalement) with her husband’s arms. This, however, was not strictly adhered to as her funerary arms by Ernst Krahl differed slightly.

Arms of Empress Elizabeth illustrated by Hugo G. Ströhl (digitally edited by Alex Bransby)

Sadly, I am not in the possession of a good quality image of Zita’s arms as Empress. However, based on photographic evidence and thanks to the work of Alex Bransby I am able to present a digital reconstruction of her arms in colour.

Arms of Zita as Empress and Queen digitally edited by Alex Bransby

In the event that anyone has any more illustrations or information regarding Empress Zita’s arms, please do reach out and contact us via the form here. Thank you in advance!