The Lord Lyon King of Arms has told Ayr United that their club badge is in breach of an ancient law that prohibits the unauthorised use of the Saltire on a crest.

As many as 25 Scottish clubs could be facing the same problem. It’s a criminal offence, and technically any club merchandise bearing the illegal badge could be confiscated.

Airdrieonians changed their badge earlier this season because it contained a heraldic lion.

ISN’T THIS AN ANCIENT LAW?

It certainly is. The office of King of Arms dates back to the 14th century and probably relates to the tradition of a Royal Poet or seanchaidh, who was an important member of the court of the King of Scots for centuries as he (it was never a she) maintained the royal genealogy.

The Lyon Court formally dates back to 1592 and an Act passed by the Scottish Parliament (first version). It put Scottish heraldry on a legal basis that is maintained to this day – it really can be a criminal offence if you use heraldic symbols such as the Saltire and Lion Rampant without the Lord Lyon’s approval.

In 1672, the Scottish Parliament ordered the creation of a Public Register of all Arms and Bearings in Scotland. The Lyon Clerk maintains the register to this day, and it contains the record of every coat of arms granted by the Lord Lyon.

ISN’T IT ALL JUST FLUMMERY?

The current incumbent, the Rev Canon Dr Joseph Morrow, would surely disagree. He and Her Majesty’s Officers of Arms – Rothesay Herald, Snawdoun Herald, Marchmont Herald, Ormond Pursuivant, Dingwall Pursuivant and Unicorn Pursuivant – do wear their colourful royal tabards on ceremonial and state occasions which the Lord Lyon organises.

The maintenance of heraldic purity is his main task, however, and its importance is recognised when matters of genealogy come before the Lyon Court, when the Lord Lyon acts as a judge with all the authority of the judiciary.

Claims to be a clan chief, for instance, land on his desk because it is the granting of the chieftain’s arms that determines who the chief is.

Interestingly, the coat of arms of a clan chief can only be used by that chief – there is no right for all members of the clan to use the coat of arms, though they can certainly use the clan crest.

It should be noted that if the Lord Lyon refuses a coat of arms, there is no appeal other than by a judicial review in the Court of Session – a very expensive process.

ISN’T IT ALL A BIT OUT OF DATE IN MODERN SCOTLAND?

Of course it is, but he is in a real sense a guardian of our history. This is a historic nation and that history is very much part of Scottish culture and a great attraction for tourists.

Though the Scottish Government appoints the Lord Lyon, it would take a petition and a law through the Westminster Parliament to get rid of what is one of the Great Offices of State, albeit the most junior of them, within the Royal Household – and Her Majesty might just refuse to sign an Act that diminishes “her” household.

WHAT’S THE LINK BETWEEN LORD LYON AND DR WHO?

Probably the most important early holder of the office of Lord Lyon really was a poet – Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, a Fifer who rose through the court of King James V in the mid-16th century and who produced the roll of arms, known as the Lindsay of the Mount Roll, which forms the basis of Scottish heraldry.

He is rather better known for his marvellous morality play Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estatis, which continues to be performed to this day.

The late playwright John McGrath adapted Lindsay’s work for his contemporary version, A Satire of the Four Estaites, which was produced as part of the Edinburgh Festival in 1996, and starred none other than Sylvester McCoy, the Scottish actor who was the seventh incarnation of Dr Who.

You could also argue that the Lord Lyon is a man out of his time, but let’s face it, somebody has to do the ceremonial job, so why not someone who knows what they are doing?