Cayman’s Coat of Arms, along with heraldic shields from all UK overseas territories and crown dependencies, now form part of two stained glass windows unveiled this week at the House of Commons Speaker’s House.
Governor Jane Owen, who travelled to the UK for the coronation of King Charles III and to attend the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council, held 11-12 May, was on hand for the reveal Tuesday by Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
Owen, in a post on her official Facebook page, said, together with Tasha Ebanks Garcia, Cayman’s representative to the UK, she attended the unveiling of the ‘British Family’ stained glass windows in the Speaker’s House, located in new palace of Westminster.
“The windows represent the link between the UK, Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. The event was hosted by Speaker Hoyle and was followed by a dinner in honour of the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies,” she said in the post.
Hoyle, in a statement following the unveiling, said the window “would be a permanent and tangible reminder of the strong and close links between the UK and its wider family”.
He added, “From now on, every single person coming into Speaker’s House will be reminded of how closely we are connected,” he said.
The unveiling is timely, as on 14 May, Cayman will mark the 65th anniversary of the grant of the Cayman Islands Coat of Arms by the Queen.
The Coat of Arms was designed in 1957 to represent the identity of the Cayman Islands, incorporating historical and indigenous features including three stars representing the three islands – Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.
“In my opinion, the OTs and dependencies have been overlooked for too long – yet many of the decisions we make here in the UK have a huge impact on their futures,” Hoyle said in the statement.
“They are important to me – they are part of our United Kingdom family – and I want to provide them with a platform on which to speak, to air their concerns, to share experiences and to enable us to learn from each other.”
All 16 overseas territories and three crown dependencies are represented in the two windows.
‘One British family’
The statement said the stained glass windows feature coats of arms from Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Anguilla, Ascension, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territories, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, St Helena, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Tristan da Cunha, Turks and Caicos, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
The original windows, which dated from 1858, have long since been removed and replaced by plain plate glass.
The new design was created by John Reyntiens Glass Studio – the same London-based stain-glassed window specialists who recently reglazed the Big Ben clock dials with new, mouth-blown glass.
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