Jiří Louda (3 October 1920 – 1 September 2015) was a Czech heraldist and veteran of World War II. Louda was considered among the leading designers of coats of arms in the Czech Republic and the former Czechoslovakia.[1] He designed the current coat of arms of the Czech Republic, adopted in 1992, which incorporates the displays of the three historic Czech lands.[1] Louda also designed the standard (official presidential flag)ofPresident of the Czech Republic, which was adopted in 1993 following the country's independence.[2] Additionally, Louda created the coat of arms of the Olomouc Region, as well as the municipal coats of arms for more than 200 towns and cities throughout the Czech Republic.[1][2]
Louda was born in Kutná Hora, Czechoslovakia, on 3 October 1920. He fled to the United Kingdom during World War II and the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, where the Czechoslovak government-in-exile was headquartered.[1] He joined the exiled Czechoslovakian military during World War II and served as a paratrooper.[1]
He was imprisoned by Czechoslovakia's Communist regime during the late 1940s, and released in 1950.[1]
He is best known in the English-speaking world to students of royal and noble genealogies and royal families as co-author with Michael Maclagan (who wrote the text, while Louda compiled and drew the tables) of the best-selling Lines of Succession, first published in 1981, and subsequently reprinted and revised on several occasions.
Jiří Louda died in Olomouc on 1 September 2015, at the age of 94.[1][2][3]