Dieu et mon droit, which means 'God and my right', is the motto of the monarch of the United Kingdom. It appears on a scroll beneath the shield of the version of the coat of arms of the United Kingdom. The motto is said to have first been used by Richard I (1157–1199) as a battle cry and presumed to be a reference to his French ancestry and the concept of the divine right of the monarch to govern. It was adopted as the royal motto of England by King Henry V (1386–1422) with the phrase "and my right" referring to his claim by descent to the French crown.
The British coat of arms with the motto on the Main Guard in Valletta, Malta
Dieu et mon droit on the Newcastle upon Tyne Customs House (1766)
Old Customs House (1845), Sydney, New South Wales
Dieu et mon droit motto on Albany Courthouse (1898), Western Australia
Coat of arms of the United Kingdom
The coat of arms of the United Kingdom are the arms of dominion of the British monarch. They are both the personal arms of the monarch, currently King Charles III, and the arms of the state. In addition to the monarch, the arms are used by state institutions including the Government of the United Kingdom, the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and the British judiciary. Differenced versions of the arms are used by members of the British royal family. The monarch's official flag, the Royal Standard, is the coat of arms in flag form.
St Michael's Parish Church, Linlithgow, Scotland: Scottish version of the royal arms of the Hanoverians, used from 1801 to 1816
The Royal Shield formed by six UK coins, with the £1 coin depicting the whole of the shield.