The ancient Leicester arms of cinquefoil and wyvern were confirmed at the Heraldic Visitation of 1619 and drawn in the manuscript of the Visitation. They had however been in use long before then as the personal devices of the Earls of Leicester. The cinquefoil was the device adopted by Robert De Bellomonte, first Earl of Leicester, and used by Robert Fitz Parnell, one of his successors, who died in 1204.

The Dukes of Lancaster from Edmund Crouchback (Thomas’s father) onwards inherited the Earldom of Leicester and held lands in the town - hence the Lancastrian connection.

Following recognition of Leicester’s City status by Royal Charter in 1919, the Council made application in 1926 for a design to include supporters. The College of Arms produced one with the red Lancastrian Lion on either side and Elizabeth I’s motto beneath.

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