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On the opposite aisle, near the choir door, as already mentioned, rests the ill-fated Henry the Sixth, beneath an arch sumptuously embellished by Henry the Eighth, on the keystone of which may still be seen his arms, supported by two antelopes connected by a golden chain. [Book the Third, "The History of the Castle," Chapter III, "Comprising the Fourth Epoch in the History of the Castle;​ and showing how Saint George's Chapel was rebuilt by King​ Edward the Fourth," p. 154]

Commentary

According to J. Don Vann (1985), in the serial publication, what is now Book Three appeared after Book the Fourth and immediately before Book the Fifth. Although the wood-engraving of Henry's coat-of-arms appears well into the novel, in the non-fiction antiquarian section on the history of Windsor Castle, Delamotte in all likelihood made the sketch upon which it is based in the summer of 1842. Thus, it is not technically an "illustration" since it is unlikely that Delamotte had read what would turn out to be the accompanying text when he visited the castle. That this sketch does not correspond to Ainsworth's description suggests that it was the best match that the author could find in the artist's portfolio, even though the armorial beasts to either side of the portcullis are a gryphon and a greyhound.

In 1536 Henry VIII effected the union of Wales and England; however, the unicorn is absent in his coat-of-arms because Scotland did not join the Union until the reign of James I of the House of Stuart. The portcullis in the design references the badge of John Beaufort, Marquess of Dorset and Somerset (circa 1371-1410), illegitimate son of Prince John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (1340-1399). To earn legitimate status, John Beaufort was subsequently adopted by his great-grandson, Henry Tudor (later, Henry VII), whose mother was Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509). Henry VII (1485-1509) and Henry VIII (1509-1547), the first and second Tudor sovereigns, employed the portcullis as a badge and probably used it at Hampton Court Palace, and other royal residences. Although the greyhound in the design may suggest the Tudors' Welsh lineage, it may also reference the House of Beaufort, the family of Henry's mother, Margaret.

Outside the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court, the coat of arms bears two angels holding aloft a crown above a shield in which the herald has quartered the fleurs-de-lys of France (suggesting a tenuous claim to the throne of France) and the three lions of England. The heraldic coat-of-arms on Henry's embroidered funeral pall, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, has several analogous features: to the left of the quartered shield is a rampant lion, and to the right a greyhound rather than a Welsh dragon. For seven hundred years it was illegal under English law for a commoner to own a Greyhound, as the breed were reserved for the nobility. The greyhound thus denotes majesty, courage, vigilance, swiftness and loyalty, and was emblematic of nobility. For the house of Beaufort, the greyhound, moreover, would have been an assertion of legitimacy.

Edmund Tudor, First Earl of Richmond and father of Henry VII, was granted a white greyhound as a heraldic supporter by his half-brother, Henry VI.

"The greyhound is both a Lancastrian emblem and a Tudor one — and thus very handy as a heraldic expression of the dynastic right of the Tudors to the English throne," says Peter Jones, the librarian at King's College [Cambridge]. "In this way the dynastic badges in the Chapel are all about legitimacy, a right to rule inherited from the Chapel's founder, Henry VI, by the Tudors."

"The greyhound is both a Lancastrian emblem and a Tudor one — and thus very handy as a heraldic expression of the dynastic right of the Tudors to the English throne." — Peter Jones ["Going to the dogs: the 500-year old greyhounds of King's and in the fight against cancer"]

Other Views and Related Material on Windsor Castle

• Windsor Castle from the Long Walk, Victorian additions and alterations by Sir Jeffry Wyattville
• Early twentieth-century view of the castle from the river
• The Frogmore Mausoleum, adjacent to the Long Walk
• Statue of Queen Victoria at the foot of Castle Hill, Windsor

References

Ainsworth, William Harrison. Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance. Illustrated by George Cruikshank and Tony Johannot. With designs on wood by W. Alfred Delamotte. London: Routledge, 1880. Based on the Henry Colburn edition of 1844.

University of Cambridge. "Going to the dogs: the 500-year old greyhounds of King's and in the fight against cancer."​[Created 15 July 2015; accessed 9 Dec. 2017]. http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/going-to-the-dogs-the-500-year-old-greyhounds-of-kings-and-in-the-fight-against-cancer

Patten, Robert L. Chapter 30, "The 'Hoc' Goes Down." George Cruikshank's Life, Times, and Art, vol. 2: 1835-1878. Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers U. P., 1991; London: The Lutterworth Press, 1996. Pp. 153-186.

Vann, J. Don. "Windsor Castle in Ainsworth's Magazine, June 1842-June 1843." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. P. 23.

Worth, George J. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne, 1972.

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