Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II and the Stollenian Coat of Arms

Here’s a recently finished portrait of the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II, current ruler of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. Now, it’s said that the Grand Duke wished to be portrayed wearing his beloved lobster costume, complete with various orders of merit pinned to his chest. However the artist commissioned to paint Irwin-Amadeus, one Herr Maleri, felt that it might be better to portray the slightly misguided grand duke along more conventional lines. Hence the rather typical mid-eighteenth century portraiture we see before us here.

This is also a good time to offer some explanation behind the grand ducal standard posted below. The eagle-eyed among you will note that the red and white lion in the center of the standard is the familiar Hessian lion. In fact, the Stollenian dynasty descends from the same family that rules Hesse-Kassel. Stollen’s Irwin-Amadeus II is indeed a very distant cousin of Friedrich II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel since 1760.

Various second, third, and subsequent sons of the Hessian dynasty were involved in the northern crusades of the middle ages, under the auspices of Teutonic Knights, which moved eastward to “Christianize” the peoples of Northeastern Europe, leading to the establishment of the Grand Duchy of Stollen in 1230 A. D. Grand Duke Konrad- Albrecht I was first ruler of Stollen, and he was Irwin-Amadeus’s direct ancestor. The extended royal family of Stollen also has ties to the ruling houses of Denmark and Sweden besides Hesse-Kassel.

The royal colors of Stollen are a mid- to light blue and orange. Both are part of the grand ducal standard. These same colors are also seen frequently in the uniforms and battle flags of Stollen’s troops, for example the orange facings of the 2^nd (Von Laurenz) Musketeers or the light blue coats of the Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja’s Own) Grenadiers, as well as the corner vents of that regiment’s standard. Ok, now I’ve got to get back into the painting mode and get going with that 80+ figure regiment of Revell plastic Austrian grenadiers.