Coat of arms of the British Virgin Islands
The coat of arms of the British Virgin Islands was first granted in 1960.
The arms consist of a shield, featuring a woman in a white dress holding a golden lamp, with 11 other golden lamps surrounding her on a green field. It is a representation of the semi-legendary Saint Ursula, a Christian saint who is said to have taken a pilgrimage across Europe with 11,000 virgin handmaidens. When Christopher Columbus sighted the islands in 1493, the islands were said to have reminded him of the story of Saint Ursula, and that is how the islands got their name; the arms were later chosen as a representation of this story. The Latin motto under the coat of arms, Vigilate, means “Be Vigilant”.
