The coat of arms of the Royal College of Physicians was granted by King Henry VIII in 1546.  It depicts a hand feeling a pulse, the hand descending from the sky symbolising  divine authority for the physicians’ profession, and a pomegranate (Punica granatum), the symbolism of which is unknown.  Although pomegranates were associated with Henry’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, but although Henry and Catherine were still married when the College was founded in 1518, they had been long divorced, and Henry married to his sixth wife, Catherine Parr, when the coat of arms was granted in 1546.  Perhaps it was chosen because it was sometimes considered to be a symbol of fertility and regeneration.

Image: plaque at entrance to the Royal College of Physicians Garden, St Andrews Place, Regents Park, London, photographed September 2026.