The United Kingdom is one of the few European countries that has managed to elevate the symbols of its statehood into a cult and spread them freely around the world. The colors of the British flag can be found on everything that can be shown to the general public – clothes, mobile devices, bags, belts, cars, and many many more. That is why the national flag of Great Britain is incredibly popular and recognizable in every corner of the world.
The flag is a rather narrow rectangular cloth with an aspect ratio of 1:2, which is unusual for flags of the world. The main background color is dark blue, and against this background, one on top of the other, are two red crosses bordered by white stripes. Below the usual horizontally stretched cross is a diagonal cross, it is much larger, with a predominance of white, while the upper one has more red. This flag even has its own name, the Union Jack.
The symbolism of the colors of the British flag is closely related to the territorial and political landscape of the country and conveys the idea of uniting completely different regions. Thus, the straight red cross is a symbol of England itself and its patron saint, St. George, the white cross below it is the image of rebellious Scotland and St. Andrew, and the diagonal red and white crosses represent Ireland and its patron saint, St. Patrick.
Some asymmetry in the arrangement of the crosses is associated with the reluctance to demonstrate anyone’s superiority, as history shows, the Scots are especially hot-tempered in this regard. By the way, even though we are all accustomed to this official type of British flag, it has not yet been officially recognized as the national flag.
Symbols were added to the flag of Great Britain gradually. The English flag appeared in 1277, the Scottish element was added in 1634, and Ireland joined them only in 1801. But the story of the British flag started much much earlier, back in 519, with the establishment of the Kingdom of Wessex. Below you will find a detailed history of the British Flag, with its most significant moments. Let’s get started!
According to most sources, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex was founded in 519. During the 6th-7th centuries, as a result of wars with Celtic tribes, as well as the neighboring Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, the territory of Wessex expanded considerably. The flag of the state in those times was a heraldic golden dragon on a bright red background.
The unified state in England was created in 927. Then Athelstan came to the throne. The flag remained unchanged.
From 1014 (in other sources from 1013), the Anglo-Scandinavian Empire, also known as the North Sea Empire, was founded. This association did not last very long but managed to acquire a separate flag, which was used until 1942. It was a black heraldic image of a bird drawn in clear smooth lines over a solid white background with a black outline.
The ruler of England from 1042 to 1066 was Edward the Confessor, and this is the name of the historical flag of the state used during that period. Edward placed a great deal of emphasis on Christianity, so it is not surprising that it was the cross that became the main element of the flag. The golden cross on a blue background was complemented by five images of birds in the same golden color.
In 1066 the Battle of Hastings was fought and England was conquered by the Norman Duke William the Conqueror, who became King of England. There were two flags, used in the period of his reign. The first depicted a white heraldic image of a warrior on a red background.
The second flag of the Kingdom of England during the reign of William the Conqueror, has become the symbol of the English Kings. It was a solid red crest with two golden lions drawn one under another. They are depicted in a distinctive horizontal stand – lions passant guardant.
The youngest son of William the Conqueror is known as Henry I Beauclair. On Henry’s personal coat of arms, there was only one lion. And he was depicted in a rampant position – standing on his hind legs and raising his front legs in an aggressive gesture. It was his coat of arms that briefly replaced the flag of England.
King Henry II ascended the throne next, and upon his marriage, the two lions from his coat of arms were combined with the ice of the coat of arms of his wife, Alienor of Aquitaine. The marriage gave birth to perhaps the most celebrated English ruler in history, Richard the Lionheart. During the twelfth century, he began to use three golden lions on a scarlet background as a symbol of the monarchy.
In 1340, King Edward III sat on the throne of England and made the flag of the country the coat of arms of his family, the Plantagenet dynasty. It was a cloth divided into four parts: two blue with a pattern of golden fleur-de-lys, and two red with three golden lions.
In 1395, the flag of England was complicated even more: the left half of the cloth now occupied the image of the same golden cross with five birds, which served as the national flag in 1042, under Edward the Confessor. However, this version of the flag only stayed in use for three years.
In 1399 the ruler of England, Richard II, brought back the Plantagenet coat of arms as the official flag of the Kingdom.
After the accession to the throne of Henry IX of the Lancaster dynasty, the flag of the Kingdom was slightly simplified. The blue fragments were now decorated only with three enlarged gold fleur-de-lys. As for the part with the lions, it remained unchanged.
And again, the flag became more complicated in 1422: fleur-de-lys and lions crest was moved to the right part of the flag, while the left was taken by a solid blue vertically-oriented rectangle with three golden heraldic flowers on it.
During these years, the previous two flag designs were alternating, it was always the wish of the King, which one to use.
The St. George’s Cross came to prominence in the Middle Ages, during the Crusades, at which time it became the official English symbol. According to one historical theory, the Cross was used as a national emblem, not a flag but only an emblem, during the Welsh War of 1275. There is an opinion that the Cross was adopted by England to give the navy an individual symbolism. But officially it became the flag of the Kingdom only in 1552.
The very first flag, established by royal decree on April 12, 1606, differed only slightly from the modern Union Jack: it did not have the diagonal red lines – St. Patrick’s cross. This cross is still present on the national flag of Great Britain even though nowadays only Northern Ireland is part of it.
In 1649, after the execution of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell banned the use of the Union Flag. The new flag of the state was a cloth divided into two parts: on the left was the red cross of St. George, and on the right was a golden harp on a bright blue background.
Three years after the forced annexation of Ireland, thanks to Cromwell’s victory in the Civil War, Scotland was brought into the union, and the commonwealth flag began to look like a combination of two Scottish and 2 English flags.
In 1653, the flag changed again. The kingdom adopted the constitution of the Commonwealth of Three Nations. The result of this action was the appearance of a cloth with diagonal St. George’s crosses, a “saltire” and an Irish harp. In the center of the renewed flag was placed the coat of arms of Lord Oliver Cromwell, who was the head of the commonwealth at that time.
After Oliver Cromwell’s death, the Union Jack was returned to its highest status. It now included the English and Scottish symbols superimposed on each other. Just like the version, introduced in 1606, but this time the center was decorated with a golden Irish harp on a blue crest.
The same flag was used in 1659, after the rename of the state into the Commonwealth of England again. Also, for the Kingdom of England, from 1660 up to 1707, different sources claim that this flag was used.
A turning point in the history of the monarchy was the signing of the Act of Union in 1707. The document returned the name “Kingdom of Great Britain” to the British lands. The Union Jack became the state flag.
The modern flag design appeared in 1801 when Ireland became part of the Kingdom of Great Britain. It is a combination of the emblems of three countries ruled by one monarch. These emblems are the crosses of three patron saints: the red-on-white field cross of St. George, the patron saint of England; the white diagonal-on-blue field cross of St. Andrew, the symbol of Scotland; the red diagonal cross of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1922, keeping the flag unchanged.
By the way, Wales is not represented on the flag of Great Britain, as Wales had already been united with England by the time the first version of the flag appeared. The national flag of Wales, a red dragon on a white-green field, dates from the 15th century and is widely used throughout the country.