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The flag of Thailand shows five horizontal stripes in the colours red, white, blue, white and red, with the middle blue stripe being twice as wide as each of the other four. The three colours red-white-blue stand for nation-religion-king, an unofficial motto of Thailand.[citation needed] The flag was adopted on 28 October 1917. The Thai name for the flag is ธงไตรรงค์ (Thong Trairong), which simply means tricolour flag.
The first flag used for Siam was probably a plain red one, first used under King Narai (1656-1688). Naval flags later used different symbols on the red ground—a white chakra (the weapon of god Vishnu which use as the symbol of the House of Chakri), or a white elephant inside the chakra.
Officially the first flag was created in 1855 by King Mongkut (Rama IV), showing a white elephant (a royal symbol) on red ground, as the plain coloured flag was not distinct enough for international relations.
In 1916 the flag was changed to the current design, but with the middle colour being the same red as the outer stripe. The story goes that during a flood King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) saw the flag hanging upside-down, and to prevent this from happening again created a new flag which was symmetrical. In 1917 the middle color was changed to dark blue, the auspicious colour for Saturday in Thai astrology, the day King Vajiravudh was born. According to other sources, the blue colour was also chosen to show solidarity with the Allies of World War I, which also had the colours blue-red-white in their flags.
The flag resembles the flag of Costa Rica, which was adopted 11 years prior to Thailand's. The main difference is that the blue and red colors are inverted.
[edit] Maritime flags
The naval ensign of Royal Thai Navy is similar to the national flag but has the red circle in the middle which reaches as far as the red stripes at the top and bottom. In the circle stands a white elephant, in full caparison, facing the flagpole. Thai Navy jack is the national flag with an additional emblem of Royal Thai Navy in the middle. The design of the regimental colours (th:ธงชัยเฉลิมพล) of RTN is as same as this flag. These two ensigns are adopted in 1917.
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