At One Place

The flag of Monaco

The flag of Monaco
Two equal horizontal bands, red over white, on a near-square flag.
Ratio 4:5 · current design adopted 1881
Monaco

The colours come straight from the Grimaldi coat of arms, which has used red and white lozenges since the thirteenth century, making Monaco's claim to the combination the oldest of the three countries that fly it. The difference from Indonesia is proportional only: 4:5 against 2:3, which on a flagpole reads as "squarer". Monaco also has a state flag carrying the full Grimaldi arms on white, used by the palace. The country is small enough that its flag is more often seen at Grand Prix and in yacht harbours than anywhere else.

Flags it gets confused with

Monaco
Indonesia
Poland

Drawn at each flag’s own official ratio, which is itself the difference in some of these pairs.

Flag How to tell them apart
Indonesia Identical colours and order; Indonesia is longer at 2:3 against Monaco's 4:5.
Poland Poland is white over red — the same flag upside down.

What the colours mean

  • Red #CE1126 From the heraldic colours of the House of Grimaldi
  • White #FFFFFF The second Grimaldi colour

Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.

Ratio
4:5
Current design adopted
1881
Colours
red, white

Common questions

What does the flag of Monaco look like?
Two equal horizontal bands, red over white, on a near-square flag.
What do the colours of the Monaco flag mean?
Red: from the heraldic colours of the House of Grimaldi. White: the second Grimaldi colour.
How do you tell the Monaco flag from the Indonesia one?
Identical colours and order; Indonesia is longer at 2:3 against Monaco's 4:5.
When was the Monaco flag adopted?
The current design dates from 1881, and its official ratio is 4:5.

Related pages

Sources

  1. Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked