United Kingdom National Symbols: Flag Details
Date First Used
April 12, 1606 (current version January 1, 1801)
Nickname(s)
Union Flag
Union Jack
“Rice-Character Flag” (China)
“Butcher's Apron” (pejorative)
“King's Colors” (United States)
Royal Union Flag (Canada)
Design Elements
The Union Flag (Jack) consists of a red cross (St. George's cross) superimposed on a blue saltire (St. Andrew's cross) and red saltire (St. Patrick's cross), all on a white background.
Symbols: St. George's Cross represents England, St. Andrew's Cross represents Scotland, and St. Patrick's Cross stands for Ireland.
Colors: Red represents St. George and St. Patrick; white and blue represent St. Andrew.
Proportions: 1:2
Variations: The war flag's proportions are 3:5; the civil ensign features a red background with a Union Flag in the canton; the state ensign has a blue background with the union flag in the canton; the naval ensign features a white background with the St. George's Cross and a Union Flag in the canton.
History
The Union Flag (or Union Jack) was originally meant as a symbol of consolidation of two warring kingdoms, England and Scotland, under one regent. When King James VI of Scotland ascended to the English throne (becoming James I of England), the national flags of England and Scotland remained, respectively, the red St. George's Cross and the white St. Andrew's cross. But the newly unified nations needed a flag to display at sea, so on April 12, 1606, marine vessels were commanded to display the red and blue crosses conjoined in one flag. This is the first known reference to a Union Flag.
In 1634, the display of the Union Flag was restricted to the king's ships. Its use was discontinued in 1649, when England became a commonwealth under Cromwell, but was reauthorized for the kingdom's vessels following the 1660 restoration. The flag was designated “the ensign armorial of the United Kingdom of Great Britain” as one of the provisions of the Act of Union in 1707, when the kingdoms of England and Scotland were once again united .
The current Union Flag was adopted on January 1, 1801, following the Act of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This new design added the red saltire cross of St. Patrick's Flag to represent the addition of Ireland. (While the Republic of Ireland declared independence in 1922, Northern Ireland remained under British control, and the flag therefore remained unchanged.) The Irish saltire is arranged countercharged with the saltire of St. Andrew, so the white is always on the clockwise side of the red. This is due to Scotland's "seniority" within the United Kingdom.
Proper Uses
The Union Flag can be flown by any individual or private organization in England, Scotland or Wales on any day. Legal regulations restrict the use of the Union Flag on government buildings in Northern Ireland. Long-standing restrictions on government use of the flag elsewhere were abolished in July 2007.
Legends, Controversies, and Trivia
The Scots were unhappy with the original Union Flag, and proposed a number of alternative designs, including the St. George's flag with the St. Andrew's flag in the canton, and the St. George's flag with a St. Andrew's flag in each quarter. They had some modest success in their efforts: prior to 1701, an unofficial flag that employed an overlay of the white cross of St. Andrew on the red cross of St. George saw some limited use.
Some pundits claim St. Patrick's Cross, which lacks significant historical documentation, was “invented” for the express purpose of inclusion in the Union Flag. Still, it is possible the cross originated from the arms of the Fitzgerald family (the Dukes of Leinster), who were dispatched by Henry II of England to bolster Anglo-Norman rule in Ireland. Regardless, it has rarely been used by the Irish as an emblem of their nation.
Although it is the official flag in Northern Ireland, the Union Jack remains a symbol of discord. It's used to signify loyalty to the Union by those who display it; conversely, Irish nationalists often display the tricolor Irish flag instead. For many years, the tricolor was effectively banned in Northern Ireland under the Flags and Emblems Act of 1954, which empowered the police to remove any flag that could cause a breach of the peace—but specified, controversially, that a Union Flag could never have such an effect.
Since there is no uniquely Welsh element in the Union Flag (and Wales is the only UK nation not represented in the flag), proposals have been made in the House of Commons to combine the Union Flag with the Welsh flag. One idea is the inclusion of the Welsh Red Dragon in the flag's center.
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