Badges of The Royal Canadian Regiment
Crowns, Cyphers and Stars

Over more than one hundred years, The Royal Canadian Regiment has issued a wide variety of badges on a common design of a royal cypher topped with a crown surmounted on a backplate of an eight-pointed star. There has, however, been changes to each of these principal elements over time, and some of the basic changes are described below.

Crowns

The badges of the Royal Canadian Regiment have been adorned with variations of four different Royal crowns, these have been:

the St. Edwards Crown,
the Guelphic Crown,
the Tudor (or King's) Crown, and
the Imperial State Crown.

St. Edwards Crown

Referred to by some as a "Queen Victoria's Crown." A rounded top version is found on the badges created in 1883 for the Infantry School Corps, and its square-topped variation first appeared in 1926 when the crown was "corrected" from the heraldically incorrect Guelphic crown. The second iteration of the St Edward's Crown was in use from 1926 until the 1970s, and then reappeared on badges produced in the late 1990s.


1883	1883	1926	1990s

Guelphic Crown

This is properly the crown of Prince Albert's family, and was used during Victoria's reign. Officially, this is the crown of the Dukes of the House of Hanover, of which Prince Albert was a member, as were the British Royal family. This style of crown is found on the 1894 pattern badges worn 1894-1902, and which were likely seen back in service between 1919 and 1926.


1894	1894

Tudor (or King's) Crown

The Tudor Crown (commonly but incorrectly called the King's Crown) has a rounded top. Introduced by Edward VII in about 1902 and used until the accession of Elizabeth II in 1953. Found on badges produced during the reigns of King Edward VII and King George V; from 1902 to 1919 when the return to Queen Victoria's cypher and crown were authorized.

1902

Imperial State Crown

Similar to the St Edward's Crown but with a flatter top, the crown's base with alternating crosses and fleur-fe-lis, and a border of ermine. Worn by both Kings and Queens, and may be found on badges during the reigns of both King George IV and Queen Elizabeth II from the 1940s onwards.


1940s	1990s

Cyphers

Cap Badges of the Royal Canadian Regiment have been adorned by the cyphers of three sovereigns:

Queen Victoria
King Edward VII
King George V


"VRI" 1894-1902 1919-1970s	"EviiR" 1902-1911	"GvR" 1911-1919

"VRI" 1894-1902 1927-1990s	"VRI" 1894-1902 1990s-present

Stars

The eight-pointed star of the badge of The Royal Canadian Regiment found its origin in the earliest helmet plates of the Infantry School Corps. The basic shape was replicated in the cap badges of the same era with the "diamond cut star" which has seen a variety of minor changes in detail through the Regiment's history, some of which are shown below. Interestingly, different styles of the star have been repeated from time to time in various badge issues.

1883 Helmet Plate	1894 Helmet Plate	1894 Helmet Plate
1894 pattern badge	1894 pattern badge	1911 pattern badge
1894 pattern badge	1894 pattern badge	1894 pattern badge	1894 pattern badge
1894 pattern badge	1894 pattern badge	1902 pattern badge	1902 pattern badge
1911 pattern badge	1911 pattern badge
1894 pattern badge	1894 pattern badge		1902 pattern badge
1911 pattern badge	1940 pattern badge	1911 pattern badge	1926 pattern badge
1926 pattern badge	1940 pattern badge
1926 pattern badge	1940 pattern badge	1926 pattern badge
1926 pattern badge	1926 pattern badge	1960s-70s pattern badge	1990s pattern badge
1960s-70s pattern badge	1980s pattern badge		2000 pattern badge

The Regiment's badges can also be differentiated by the amount of convexity to the cypher frontispiece and/or the star. Some examples of flat, low convexity and high convexity are shown below: