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Evolution of the Royal Arms of England 
Henry II Curtmantle Reigned 1154-1189 Born 1133 Died 1189 This is the first proven arms for an English monarch. Gules a lion rampant or, later changed during his reign to three lions (see Richard I). Henry II ruled over an empire which stretched from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees. One of the strongest, most energetic and imaginative rulers, Henry was the inheritor of three dynasties who had acquired Aquitaine by marriage; his charters listed them: 'King of the English, Duke of the Normans and Aquitanians and Count of the Angevins'. The King spent only 13 years of his reign in England; the other 21 years were spent on the continent in his territories in what is now France. Henry's rapid movements in carrying out his dynastic responsibilities astonished the French king, who noted 'now in England, now in Normandy, he must fly rather than travel by horse or ship'. |
