Coat of arms of Spain

The Spanish Coat of Arms is composed of six other coats of arms:

• First quarter, for Castile: Gules, a tower Or, masoned sable and ajouré azure;
• Second quarter, for León: Argent, a lion rampant purpure(sometimes blazoned gules) crowned Or, langued and armed gules;
• Third quarter, for Aragon: Or, four pallets gules;
• Fourth quarter, for Navarre: Gules, a cross, saltire and orle of chains linked together Or, a centre point vert;
• Enté en point, for Granada: Argent, a pomegranate proper seeded gules, supported, sculpted and leafed in two leaves vert;
• Overall an inscutcheon for the reigning House of Bourbon: Azure, three fleurs-de-lys Or within a bordure gules.

On either side of the Coat of Arms are the Pillars of Hercules, an ancient name given to the Straits of Gibraltar. The motto plus ultra means 'further beyond' in Latin, and in this context it means beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, referring to America and the former Spanish territories. (Before the voyages of Christopher Columbus, the motto was Ne plus ultra, nothing more beyond, because the Pillars marked a limit of the known world.) Over the pillars, an Imperial Crown on the left and a Royal Crown on the right. The symbol of the Pillars was first used by King Charles I of Spain who was also Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, which explains the presence of the Imperial Crown. The coat of arms is crowned with a crown of the same metal and precious stones, with eight rosettes, five visible, and eight pearls interspersed, closed at the top by eight diadems also adorned with pearls and surmounted by a cross on a globe, which is the royal crown of Spain.

The present design is regulated by:

• Act 33/1981, dated 5th October, on the Coat of Arms of Spain (Official Gazette nº 250, dated 19th October)
• Royal Decree 2964/1981, dated 18th December, approving the official Coat of Arms of Spain (Official Gazette nº 221, dated 15th September)
• Royal Decree 2267/1982, dated 3rd September, technically specifying the colours of the Coat of Arms of Spain (Official Gazette nº 221, dated 15th September)

The Monarch has a personal Coat of Arms.

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