Personal Flag of Queen Elizabeth II

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Queen's Personal Flag
The Queen's personal emblem

The Personal Flag of Queen Elizabeth II is a personal standard of Queen Elizabeth II that can be used on any building, ship, car or aircraft in which she is staying or travelling.[1] It is often used to represent her role as Head of the Commonwealth or as a royal standard in Commonwealth realms that do not have a royal standard of their own.[1] The flag was created in 1960 and first used in 1961 for the Queen's visit to India.[2]

Description

The flag is the crowned letter 'E' in gold, surrounded by a garland of gold roses on a blue background, with a golden fringe. The crown is a symbol of the Queen's rank and dignity, whilst the roses symbolise the countries of the Commonwealth.

The emblem appears in the Royal Standards, the banners of arms, of Australia, Barbados, Jamaica, Canada, and New Zealand.

History

The flag was created upon the Queen's request in December 1960 to symbolise her as an individual and not associated with her role as sovereign of any particular Commonwealth realm.

Over time, the flag started to be used in place of the Royal Standard when the Queen visits Commonwealth countries where she is not head of state and for Commonwealth occasions in the United Kingdom, and symbolises the Queen's role as Head of the Commonwealth. When the Queen visits Marlborough House in London, headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat, her personal flag is raised and not the Royal Standard.[3]

See also

  • Royal Cypher

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Personal flags". Royal household. Retrieved 4 December 2013. 
  2. ↑ "British Royal Flags, Reign of Elizabeth II: Personal Flags of Queen Elizabeth II". Flags Of The World. 
  3. ↑ "Mailbox". Royal Insight. September 2006. p. 3. Archived from the original on 19 November 2008. 
Personal flags and royal standards of Queen Elizabeth II
Current
Former
Other
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.