The History of the Union Flag!

The History of the Union Flag and the Union Jack – What’s the difference anyway?

While the flags of some countries are quite dull and boring, flags of countries such as Mozambique, which features an AK47 – we aren’t kidding here – Dominica, which features a purple parrot, Albania with it’s double-headed eagle, or Bhutan and Wales with their dragons, are far more exciting.
When it comes to the Union flag – the British flag – things aren’t quite so straightforward and obvious.

First off, there is some confusion over the actual name of the flag.

Officially, the British flag is called the Union Flag and not, as some call it, the Union Jack.

You can forget the urban myth that the flag’s name has recently been changed because women complained that to call the flag Jack was sexist and discriminatory.

The truth is that since the creation of the first version of the flag, it has always been called the Union Flag.

The confusion over the term Union Jack comes from Britain’s seafaring heritage, and a proclamation by Charles II that the Union Flag should be flown only by ships of the Royal Navy as a jack, a small flag at the bowsprit; the term 'jack' used to mean ‘small’.

Basically, the Union Jack is just a term for a smaller version of the Union Flag flown on naval vessels.

Today’s Union Flag is also very different to the original one.

You may already know that the flag is made up of a combination of the national flags of England, Scotland and Ireland. We’ll explain why Wales isn’t included later on.

The original Union Flag was created in 1606 after James the Sixth of Scotland inherited the English throne from Elizabeth the First on her death.

To unite the two countries under one flag, if not one parliament, he commissioned the flag of union, which comprised a combination of the English flag of Saint George, the Patron Saint of England, depicted by a red cross on a white background, with the Saltire, the Scottish flag representing Saint Andrew, the patron Saint of the Scots, depicted by a diagonal white cross on a blue background.
The resultant Union flag remained unaltered until 1801, when the Act of Union brought Ireland under the mantle of the United Kingdom.

As a consequence, the flag representing Saint Patrick, the patron Saint of Ireland, a diagonal red cross on a white background, was incorporated within the original Union Flag.

Since then, the flag has remained unaltered, despite the Republic of Ireland no longer being part of the United Kingdom.

In addition, the Welsh flag is not included in the Union Flag as, when the first Union Flag was created, Wales was no longer a principality and had already been united with England.

On a final note, if you haven’t looked closely, the Union Flag isn’t symmetrical. This is because when the flag of Saint Patrick was added, it would appear superior when laid on top of the white cross of the Scottish Saltire.

Instead, the red cross of Saint Patrick was offset, with the line in the top-right quadrant lower down to indicate that Ireland joined after Scotland.

Consequently, it is quite easy to fly the Union Flag the wrong way up, but you should be ultra-careful not to, as, officially, the flag should only ever be flown upside down to indicate that you are in distress.

That has got to be one of the worst distress signals in the world as how many people, apart from you, know about this signal, and could you really spot the difference from a distance?

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