Kate Middleton has been granted her own coat of arms in advance of the royal wedding, St James's Palace has disclosed.
The medieval device which, although not strictly necessary, will give Kate Middleton heraldic parity with her husband-to-be Prince William, accompanies what will be the most hi-tech royal wedding in history, with Twitter feeds, Flickr, blogs and live streaming on the Royal Channel on YouTube all being deployed. There will even be a video wedding book for wellwishers to submit congratulatory messages, though that will be moderated to weed out any offensive or subversive entries.
The coat of arms, devised by the Middletons with the College of Arms, depicts three acorns and a blue and red background run through with a gold chevron: in technical, archaic French, terms "per pale azure and gules a chevron or cotised argent between three acorns slipped and leaved or".
The acorns – oaks being a common tree in the Berkshire village of Bucklebury where the family lives – represent the three Middleton children and also strength and England. Two white chevrons also incorporated in the design stand for hills and mountains in keeping with the family's outdoor pursuits.
The remaining symbols are esoteric jokes, the sort that perhaps only a medieval herald or Garter King of Arms could fully appreciate: the gold chevron is a pun on Kate Middleton's mother's maiden name of Goldsmith and the dividing line down the centre an allusion to the Middle-tons.
Kate Middleton's version is lozenge-shaped and hangs from a blue ribbon – symbols of her unmarried state. Once she is married the shape will change into a shield and in due course will be impaled into the centre of her husband's own coat of arms.
Thomas Woodcock, Garter King of Arms, said: "Every coat of arms has been designed to identify a person, school or organisation and to last for ever. Heraldry is Europe's oldest, most visual and strictly regulated form of identity ... After her marriage Catherine Middleton will place her father's arms beside those of her husband in what is known as an impaled coat of arms. This will require a royal warrant from the Queen."
In keeping with tradition, next week's royal wedding will have its own official souvenir programme which will be sold in the streets of London on the morning. The A5-sized booklet, selling for £2, with proceeds going to the princes' charitable foundation, will contain the wedding order of service and a message of thanks from the prince and Middleton as well as new official photographs of the couple, taken by Mario Testino. Only 150,000 copies are being printed but the text will be available to download free online.