Romilly Squire of Rubislaw

Actor, bon viveur and heraldic artist

Born: April 3, 1953;

Died: December 7, 2016.

Romilly Squire, who has died aged 63, was the fun-loving heraldic artist whose oevre provided a wave of heraldic design hailed as the best in a generation. His encyclopedic knowledge of heraldry, combined with his position as chairman of the Heraldry Society of Scotland, saw him emerge in 2008 as the well-quoted critic of an apparent coat-of-arms then being flaunted by Donald Trump.

Ahead of planning permission being given for the Trump golf course north of Aberdeen, the Trump organisation had produced a range of promotional material including jackets and baseball caps bearing Mr Trump’s “coat-of-arms”.

Mr Squire pointedly suggested that the “heraldry” had been designed by an amateur, and that the whole achievement had been “put together for aesthetics, rather than reflecting anything about the bearer”.

He went further, pointing out that in place of a motto was the name Trump, a solecism unworthy of further explanation. One heraldist referred to the incident as “the waive of a crest”.

A spokesman for Donald Trump asserted that the insignia was something Mr Trump had had "for quite some time" and it had been properly registered with the US patent and trademark office. He added: "I believe it's the Trump family crest......It is my understanding we can't use it and we have removed it from our website, our envelopes, our letterheads". Thus the heraldsry now used are corporate arms for the Trump business, recorded through the office of the Lord Lyon.

Glasgow-born, Mr Squire was educated at the High School of Glasgow before graduating in graphic design at Glasgow School of Art, following his father, the portrait painter Geoffrey Squire, long a lecturer at the GSA and later a governor. On graduation and with teacher training behind him, Romilly returned to Glasgow High School to teach art for six years.

This was when he turned to heraldry, producing armorial artwork for family, friends and for his own enjoyment, with his greatest influence being the work of Don Pottinger, heraldic artist, Lyon Clerk and Islay Herald – Pottinger being quite the most innovative heraldic artist in a generation, and major influence in his time in world heraldic design.

The upshot proved an invitation from Don Pottinger to move to Edinburgh to become a herald painter at Lyon Office, a post Mr Squire held for some two decades.

Romilly’s talent lay in producing bold simple design, layering his work with energy and elegance. He brought life to colour, cross and creature, imbuing vivacity in the simplest of charges. There was never a lion that lacked a glint in its eye, nor a castle where the battlements didn’t frown, nor a sabre that well-nigh rattled.

He invested his work with passion, treating some pigments with scorn as being “too mild”, and instigating Europe-wide hunts for special paints of the hues he wanted. He would plead with friends visiting mainland Europe to take time off to try to locate particular brands and tones of Azure or Or rumoured to be produced in odder places.

Substantial recognition came to him when in 1996 he was invited to participate in the world’s first artists’ workshop at the International Heraldic and Genealogical Congress in Ottowa – with the outcome being that his work was exhibited in the Ottowa Museum of Civilisation, and he was awarded the Corel Prize.

Now considered one of the finest heraldic artists of his generation, he was invited to become advisor to the Chief Herald of Ireland on the renaissance of that office in 1998.

In 2009, he designed a version of the Royal arms of the United Kingdom as used in Scotland for use in the main hall of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood.

Heraldry was his abiding interest. He served on the committee of the Heraldry Society of Scotland, editing their journals and ultimately becoming chairman for six years from 2002.

But his private passion was the amassing of medals and decorations – “dingle-dangles” he’d call them, and on formal occasions (for he loved dressing up), his chest glittered with baubles and jewels and gongs from orders of chivalry both recognised and those scarcely understood, even unto being a Grand Officer the Imperial Order of the Star of Ethiopia.

Nor did he disdain the use of ancient titles: he managed to acquire title to the lairdship of Rubislaw within present-day Aberdeen, and thus the designation “of Rubislaw” became legally part of his name.

He had second and third careers as model and actor, in the latter having a part in the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, worked with Dawn French, appeared in River City and Take The High Road as well as parts in STV’s Thingummyjig. As a writer, the many publications to which he contributed in whole or part include Gem Pocket Tartans, Kings and Queens of Europe and Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Clans and Tartans, and the magisterial Collins Encyclopedia of the Clans and Families of Scotland. He also illustrated Clans and Tartans, Scottish Tartan Weddings, and the Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Britain.

He took up sport as a young man, having a fascination for kendo, the Japanese art of fencing, and in 1992 was awarded 4th Dan by the All-Japan Kendo Federation.

Romilly travelled much - to study foreign heraldry, to attend Highland Games to proselytise the cause, and to lecture on the subject. One of his most memorable presentations from a Far East trip was a learned and insightful account of the Japanese system of mon.

William Newlands of Lauriston recalled how Mr Squire loved ceremonial. “He took on the self-appointed task of leading the feudal barons of the Convention of the Baronage of Scotland on their annual procession into the High Kirk of St Giles in Edinburgh, complete with lawyer’s wig and gown, and wearing the medals of several chivalric orders”.

Wit, raconteur, bon viveur, Romilly could sometimes enjoy life too much. He became ill within the past year, and died in Edinburgh after 10 days in hospital. His long-term partner was Andrea Seath, and he is survived by her and his sister Susan.

His love of ceremonial was acknowledged by a funeral hatchment displaying his own arms, and painted for the occasion by Mark Dennis, fellow artist, advocate and officer of arms. The hatchment bore the slogan: Ars longa vita brevis (“Life is brief yet art endures”), a reflection of Romilly own motto (translated) Nature is more powerful than art.

GORDON CASELY