CMDR VALERY & NATALIA YEGOROV, SHA (Retired)
CMDR VALERY PAVLOVICH YEGOROV, SHA, Retired
Valery was born in Sochi, Russia. He received a Master of Science in Navigation, Rostov Marine College, and a Master of Arts in English Language, Taganrog Teachers Training Institute. He served as a Seaman, Navigator, and Chief Mate in the Russian Navy for over a decade and holds the rank of Captain in the Russian Navy Reserve. He has held various positions including as teacher of English for ten years.
He is a decorated Companion, Chevalier, Grand Commander, and Grand Prior of numerous international chivalric orders. He is a member of the Russian Heraldry Society, having served as its Vice President, and was the founder and head of the Collegium Heraldicum Russiae, Monino, Russia for many years, maintaining its Matricula Armorum. He is also a member of numerous heraldic societies and institutions.
He, along with his wife and fellow heraldic artist Natalia Rostislavovna Egorova, served for many years as the principal emblazoner of armorial bearings for The American College of Heraldry, following the passing of Richard McNamee Crossett.
NATALIA ROSTISLAVOVNA EGOROVA, SHA, Retired
Natalia is an heraldic artist and Dolphin Pursuivant associated with the Russian College of Heraldry (in Latin: Collegium Heraldicum Russiae, CHR), was officially re-established in 1991 under the high patronage of His Imperial Highness The Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich in his capacity as Head of the Imperial House of Romanov.
From that time until his sudden death in 1992, the Grand Duke wholeheartedly supported all efforts made to revive heraldry in Russia and to re-establish the Imperial College of Arms. Such patronage was not only encouraging but indeed indispensable to the renaissance of the Collegium.
Although the Russian Nobility had used Arms, Seals and Banners since time immemorial, Russian heraldry only became standardised and registered as recently as 1722. Czar Peter the Great established the first Imperial College of Arms (Geroldia) and modelled it after the French and German system. After the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, all forms of Imperial Heraldry were removed, defaced or destroyed and a completely new and unique system of heraldic expression came into being featuring the Communist Hammer and Sickle.
She has worked in heraldic design and art for many years, both independently and alongside her husband, Cmdr Valery Pavlovich Yegorov.