Talk:Royal Standard (United Kingdom)

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The page describes the Royal Standard as "the personal flag" of Her Majesty. Actually, a blue flag with a golden "E" surrounded by a wreath of gold roses serves as the personal flag. Lord Emsworth 23:17, Dec 7, 2003 (UTC)

Yeah. It should read official flag of the monarch I think. FearÉIREANN 01:33, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Its says that the Royal stamdard never files at half mast, this is not true, when a monarch dies the royal standard is loweres to half mast. tony jones

  • That is not true. The Royal Standard is the flag of the monarch, and thus when one king dies, the flag becomes the standard of his successor, who is very much alive. A personal standard can fly at half mast tho, when the holder dies. This is because no other person can hold that flag. eg the Queen Mum's standard flew at half mast on her death (but only over her offical residence, Clarence House). When QEII dies, the Royal Standard will be lowered at the place she dies, and raised at the place of her successor. Astrotrain 20:09, May 12, 2005 (UTC)
Flying the Royal Standard at half mast would technically mean the end of the monarchy itself! David

AFAIK it has only been flown at half mast twice, both by a junior staffer whose act was immediately reversed. When Edward VII died in 1910 someone lowered the standard to half mast. George V noticed it and had it raised to full mast again. In 1997 it was lowered wrongly after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Within minutes it was raised again.

FearÉIREANNImage:Animated-union-jack-01.gif SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF LONDON\(caint) 8 July 2005 20:35 (UTC)

When was it raised after the death of Diana? At Balmoral Castle? Astrotrain 13:24, July 17, 2005 (UTC)

Irish Version

I have seen a version of the Royal Standard which contains a gold harp of Ireland on a blue field in the first and fourth quadrants, and the English and Scottish flags in the other two quadrants, was this a version for Ireland or is it still used when the Queen is in Northern Ireland? Keith 11:17, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

Where did you see this? There is no Royal Standard for Ireland, or Northern Ireland in use. Astrotrain 18:11, August 24, 2005 (UTC)
'Keith' above is correct, you can see versions with two harp quarters. There's even one with two English and two Irish quarters pictured here (and on many McEwan's beer taps, which also use other Royal and British symbolism). Unfortunately, this was never an official flag - so can at best be considered a patriotic banner. --Breadandcheese 14:32, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Formatting

This article really needs to have the flags in the appropriate sections. Might need a bit of work though to get stuff not overlapping? Morwen - Talk 23:22, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Channel Islands

Is there a special Royal Standard used in the Channel Islands? The World Flag database only shows the flags of the Lieutenant Governors of Guernsey and Jersey (it seems to be the same) but nothing flown by the queen herself.--Hun2 14:08, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

  • As the Channel Islands are not seperate relams, they are possessions of the British crown, so the Queen would use the main Royal Standard while present on the islands. There may have been a flag for the Duke of Normandy at one point, but I am not sure what that would have been. Astrotrain 14:12, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New image

Please take a look at this page. Image:Hanoverian Royal Standard.png

  • I much prefer it to the older image. The colours are better. A good replacment Sotakeit 14:04, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Past standards

Maybe infromation on past royal standards would be interesting, what to yout think? Sotakeit 14:06, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

There are four: Malta (SVG flag on the commons), Mauritius (GIF flag at FOTW), Sierra Leone (GIF flag at FOTW) and Trinidad and Tobago (GIF flag at FOTW). Would be great if you could add material on that to the article! —Nightstallion (?) 20:37, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
Image:Royal Standard of Malta (1964).svg has been uploaded (found on Queen of Malta) Brian | (Talk) 22:06, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] {{UKFlags}}

I have removed the template {{UKFlags}} as this article talks about Royal Standards from across Commonwealth Realms; not just in the UK Brian | (Talk) 01:40, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

But, some of the Royal Standards are flags of the UK, and others are flags of Canada, which is why I inserted {{CanadaFlags}}. Should we include all available templates, or simply leave them all out? --gbambino 15:28, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
Leave all of them out, I'd say. —Nightstallion (?) 20:19, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
Canada, Australia and New Zealand have their own national Royal Standard articles, with the respective flag templates placed. The UK article is here so should have the UK template for navigational purposes. Astrotrain 12:33, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

It seems odd that the oldest of the royal standards doesn't have its own article. --gbambino 14:41, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Move the Queen's UK flag to its own article imo Brian | (Talk) 21:28, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
This article is not just about UK flags; it is about Royal Standards; there for the template should not be added; or the NZ flags, Canada Flag, Aussie Flag templates will have to be added. Brian | (Talk) 20:49, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] half staff

Guys, I don`t know how to correct a mistake in this article...the Royal Standard didn't fly half staff when HRH Princess Diana died. The Union Jack did. The thing is that till that moment when the Queen was not at Buck Palace any flag flown in Buckingham Palace. That's why there was no flag at the palace when Di died as the Queen was in Balmoral. An the Queen order to place the Union Jack half staff but never the Royal Standard. It's impossible to put the Royal Standard half mast.

Agreed; thats what I thought; was not 100% sure; I'll fix Brian | (Talk) 06:43, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Great, Brian!!!! Thanks a lot...the article looks much better now!!!

[edit] HRH

Is there a technical reason for the heavy use of HRH here? Normally it is discouraged by the manual of style. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 18:41, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Copyright violation?

Parts of this article (most of the introductory section, and perhaps the images, at least) appear to be copied from www.royal.gov.uk . Can the author confirm that he has the necessary permission to copy, and add an acknowledgement to the text? JCBradfield 19:27, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] England is not the world

If there were such a thing as a "Presidential Standard", and the Wikipedia page on it was devoted entirely to the Presidential Standard of the United States when other countries had their own Presidential Standard, no one would stand for it. So why's it OK for "Royal Standard" to be sole preserve of the English(/British/Commonwealthers)? The Netherlands and Norway, to name just two, are countries that fly their own Royal Standards. This is a neutral, international encyclopedia. England is not the world. Let's not apply double standards.

[edit] Standard used in Commonwealth Realms without their own

The article does not make it clear what flies in Commonwealth Realms with the Queen as head of state should they not have their own Royal Standard. Is it the Personal 'E' flag, the UK Royal Standard or nothing?--Breadandcheese 14:22, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

The answer is not that clear on my end too. User:Zscout370 (Return Fire) 21:50, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Standard at half mast

The Queen planned to be at Balmoral at the time, which allowed the Royal Standard to fly at half mast over Buckingham Palace for the first year anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.([[1]])

I don't think that's correct. Protocol was changed so that the union flag is flown whenever the Queen is not at the palace, and it has been ever since. The union flag could therefore be flown at half mast on the anniversary (and it has flown at half mast on other occasions too). The Royal Standard was not flown at half mast and never has been. It did get stuck once in 1997, but that was rectified within minutes, as someone mentions above.

I have read the BBC article linked, but it is slightly ambogious as to which flag it was. I think that's just down to sloppy journalism (which the BBC is prone to at times).

I'm sure it was the union flag that was flown at half mast, so those sentences need to be changed. JRawle (Talk) 18:27, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


I agree with your assessment. --Breadandcheese 19:21, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
In fact, the linked BBC article specifically says that the R.S. was not flown at half-staff on the first anniversary. - Montréalais 04:02, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Move

I propose that this article be renamed as "Royal Standards of the United Kingdom," since this article now focuses solely on those heraldic standards used in the UK, and it would then fall into format with those articles on standards used in other countries. If no one objects, I will go ahead with this in a few days. --G2bambino 17:15, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

  • Object- it is just known as the Royal Standard. Astrotrain 21:18, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
What is "it," and where is "it" known as "the Royal Standard"? --G2bambino 21:25, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
It is about the flags used by British monarchs, known as the Royal Standard. Astrotrain 21:32, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
How can the plural "flags" be known as the singular "Royal Standard"? There are not only two Royal Standards used by the sovereign of the United Kingdom, but variants of one used by other members of the Royal Family, and quite different ones used by royal consorts; all of which are covered here. Plus, there are royal standards for other monarchs that are all called the "Royal Standard," why does this one have the monopoly on the term? --G2bambino 21:45, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
The article is about the Royal Standard, ie the British monarch's flag. It also covers the variants used by consorts and other British Royals. In English language it is always known as the Royal Standard, that is why it has been here for several years. It used to also show the other realm standards, but these were moved off to their own articles. Astrotrain 22:04, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
You haven't addressed my points: 1) there is more than one royal standard covered here, hence the singular "Royal Standard" is inappropriate, and 2) in the English language there are flags known as royal standards in other countries besides the United Kingdom; hence, Wikipedia has Royal Standard of the Netherlands, Royal Standard of Norway, and Royal Standard of Spain; why should this article not follow suit? As it currently stands, it appears this article is on royal standards in general, when, in fact, it is not. Previous incarnations of the article were just as misleading. --G2bambino 22:13, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
It follows the naming guidelines, using the most known name for the flag. Internationally it is considered and known as the Royal Standard. I believe the Netherlands standard is actually known as the Royal Flag, not sure about the others- although I believe the Spanish one is personal. Astrotrain 22:20, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
I believe that outside the UK it would be known as the "Royal Standard of Queen Elizabeth II," or the "British Royal Standard," so as not to confuse it with other royal standards of other monarchs. Then again, what Royal Standard are we talking about here? That for Scotland or that for the rest of the UK? You see, you still haven't addressed my point about there being more than one royal standard covered in this article. --G2bambino 22:48, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
I agree that Royal Standard should be a disambig page and the current page could be moved to Royal Standard (United Kingdom) --Barryob Vigeur de dessus 13:55, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Graphic problem

I just compared the current graphic used for the Royal Standard for use in England or other areas, and it looks different to the one I took a photo of over Buckingham Palace. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.192.216.174 (talk) 04:18, 1 April 2008 (UTC)