Elizabeth Ann Roads LVO LLB CStJ HonFSAScot AIH was Lyon Clerk and Keeper of the Records at the Court of the Lord Lyon (1986-2018), holding the office of Lord Lyon ad interim (2017-18). Elizabeth became the first female Officer of Arms in the world and previously held the position of Linlithgow Pursuivant Extraordinary (1987), Carrick Pursuivant (1992-2010) and Snawdoun Herald (2010-21).

She is Secretary of the Order of the Thistle (since 2014) having been Assistant Secretary (2008-2014) and a founder member of the Heraldry Society of Scotland (1996) and Vice President (2017) and President of the Bureau Permanent des Congrès Internationaux des Sciences Généalogique et d’Héraldique (2017-21) and the Académie Internationale d’Héraldique (2022). A board member for the International Commission on Orders of Chivalry and the International Confederation of Genealogy and Heraldry, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1986) she was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (2013-2024).

She is a Fellow of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, the Heraldry Society, the Heraldry Society of New Zealand and Honorary Fellow of the Scandinavian Heraldry Society. She has been Lord Dean of the Merchant Guildry of Stirling (2019) and Member of Dean’s Council (2014). She is Chairman of Council of the Royal Celtic Society (2023). She was a Trustee of the Black Watch Museum (2019-2022) and is a Trustee of the Black Watch Regimental Trust (2022).

A former Chairman of the Scottish Records Association and President of the Old Edinburgh Club, she was also Hon Treasurer to the Scottish Record Society and a Trustee and Vice Chair of the Scottish Council on Archives (2015-23). She is a Trustee Scotland’s Churches Trust (2025) and Diocesan Secretary of the Diocese of St Andrew’s, Dunkeld and Dunblane (2025). She is a member of Chapter of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.