The first crest of Real Madrid had a simple design. It consisted of a decorative interlacing of the three initials of the club, "MCF" for Madrid Club de Fútbol, in dark blue on a white shirt. The first change in the crest occurred in 1908 when the letters adopted a more streamlined form and appeared inside a circle. The next change in the configuration of the crest did not occur until the Presidency of Pedro Parages in 1920. At that time, King Alfonso XIII granted the club his royal patronage which came in the form of the title "Real", roughly translated as "Royal". Thus, Alfonso's crown was added to the crest and the club styled itself Real Madrid Club de Futbol. With the dissolution of the monarchy in 1931, all the symbols of the Royalty were eliminated. Therefore, the crown on the crest and the title of Real were removed. In its place, the dark mulberry band of the Region of Castile was added. In 1941, two years after the end of the Civil War, the crest's "Real Corona", or "Royal Crown", was restored while the mulberry stripe of Castile was retained as well. In addition, the colors were modified in that the crest was made full color, with gold being the most prominent, and the club was again called Real Madrid Club de Futbol.
The most recent modification to the crest occurred in 2001 when the club wanted to better position itself for the twenty-first century and further standardize its crest. One of the modifications made was changing the mulberry stripe to a more bluish shade.