Royal blue

Royal Blue (traditional)
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#002366
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(0, 35, 102)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(219°, 100%, 20%)
Source		ISCC-NBS
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Royal Blue (web color)
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#4169E1
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(65, 105, 225)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(225°, 71%, 88%)
Source		X11
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Royal blue describes both a bright shade and a dark shade of azure blue. It is said to have been invented by millers in Rode, Somerset, a consortium of which won a competition to make a dress for the British queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.^[1]

Traditionally, dictionaries define royal blue as a deep to dark blue, often with a purple or faint reddish tinge.

By the 1950s, many people began to think of royal blue as a brighter color, and it is this brighter color that was chosen as the web color "royal blue" (the web colors when they were formulated in 1987 were originally known as the X11 colors, since the World Wide Web did not come into operation until 1991). The World Wide Web Consortium designated the keyword "royalblue" to be this much brighter color, rather than the traditional darker version of royal blue.

Royal blue in human culture

Writing

• Royal blue is a traditional color of writing ink, employed by many fountain pens, ballpoint pens and ink cartridges.

Music

• "Royal Blue" is the title of a piece of jazz music written by Henry Mancini.

Schools

• Royal Blue is the primary color of Indiana State University.
• Royal Blue is one of two colors used by Santugon sa Tawag ng Panahon, a Socio-Political Organization in De La Salle University
• Royal Blue is one of two colors used by Christopher Newport University
• Royal blue is the main color of Dulwich College in London, UK.
• Royal blue is the traditional school color of Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea.^[2]
• Royal blue is the main color of the University of Delaware Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team.^[3]
• Royal blue is one of the colors of three National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations: Phi Beta Sigma,^[4] its sister sorority Zeta Phi Beta^[5] and Sigma Gamma Rho;^[6] the Asian American interest fraternity, Lambda Phi Epsilon;^[7] the Latin sorority Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha; the multicultural sorority Lambda Tau Omega;^[8] and the national service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega.^[9]
• The Royal Blues are the marching band of Rocky Hill High School in Rocky Hill, Connecticut.^[10]
• Royal Blue is one of two colors used by Claret School of Quezon City besides with Fiery Red.
• Royal Blue is one of the three colours of Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Uganda.

Sports

• In baseball, royal blue is the dominant color for the Kansas City Royals.^[11]
• In association football, royal blue is the traditional shirt color and/or main club color of Birmingham City F.C.,^[12] Chelsea F.C., Everton F.C.,^[13] Portsmouth F.C.,^[14] Rangers F.C.^[15]"Die Königsblauen" ("The Royal Blues") is the nickname of German football team Schalke 04.^[16] It is also the traditional color kit of Universidad de Chile.
• Royal blue and white are the colours of the North Melbourne AFL team, and have been used by the club since their inception in 1869.^[17]
• In American football, The National Football League's New York Giants have royal blue and red as their colors, while royal blue and white are the listed colors of the Indianapolis Colts.^[18]
• In hockey, royal blue is the main color of the National Hockey League's Toronto Maple Leafs and St. Louis Blues; royal blue, orange and white are the team colors of the Edmonton Oilers.
• In basketball, the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks debuted with royal blue road jerseys at the start of the 2010-11 season. They went on to win their first ever NBA Championship in 2011. Royal blue is one of the team's primary colors.
• In auto racing, royal blue (called "imperial blue") is the traditional color of Ford and Carroll Shelby.

Transport

• The Royal Blue was the name of a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad train.^[19][20]
• Royal Blue was the name of a major operator of coach services in the south and west of England from 1880 to 1986.^[21]

Uniforms

• When, in 2008, the United States Transportation Security Administration changed the color of airport screener uniforms from white to royal blue, they found that it made the work of the airport screeners easier because airline passengers became more compliant, apparently because by wearing blue, the airport screeners came to be perceived more as authority figures.^[22]

Vexillology

• Royal blue is the official color used in the flags of American Samoa, Australia, Cayman Islands, Confederate States of America, Georgia, Hawaii, Israel, New Zealand,^[23] Norway, Philippines, Texas, Tuvalu, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

References

Shades of blue
Air Force blue	Alice blue	Azure	Baby blue	Bleu de France	Blue	Bondi blue	Brandeis blue	Cambridge Blue	Carolina blue
Celeste	Cerulean	Cobalt blue	Columbia blue	Cornflower blue	Cyan	Dark blue	Deep sky blue	Dodger blue	Duke blue
Egyptian blue	Electric blue	Eton blue	Federal blue	Glaucous	Electric indigo	International Klein Blue	Iris	Light blue	Majorelle Blue
Maya blue	Midnight blue	Navy blue	Non-photo blue	Palatinate blue	Periwinkle	Persian blue	Phthalo blue	Powder blue	Prussian blue
Royal blue	Sapphire	Sky blue	Steel blue	Teal	Tiffany Blue	True Blue	Tufts Blue	Turquoise	UCLA Blue
Ultramarine	Yale Blue
The samples shown above are only indicative.