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The flag of United Kingdom

The flag of United Kingdom
A blue field with a white-edged red upright cross and, behind it, a red diagonal cross offset within a broader white diagonal cross.
Ratio 1:2 · current design adopted 1801
United Kingdom

Field and colours only. Not shown: the overlaid crosses of St George, St Andrew and St Patrick.

The flag is not symmetrical, and flying it upside down is a real mistake rather than an urban legend: the broad white diagonal band sits above the red one in the top hoist quarter, and below it in the top fly quarter. Wales is not represented, because Wales was legally part of the Kingdom of England when the earlier union flags were designed. Calling it the Union Jack rather than the Union Flag is not an error either — the Flag Institute accepts both, and "jack" has been used on land since the 1670s. At 1:2 it is longer than most European flags; the British Army uses a 3:5 version.

What the colours mean

  • Red #C8102E From the crosses of St George and St Patrick
  • White #FFFFFF From the field of St George and the saltire of St Andrew
  • Blue #012169 The field of St Andrew's saltire, for Scotland

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.

The symbols on it

What What it stands for
Upright red cross St George, for England
White diagonal cross St Andrew, for Scotland
Red diagonal cross St Patrick, for Ireland
Ratio
1:2
Current design adopted
1801
Colours
red, white, blue

Common questions

What does the flag of United Kingdom look like?
A blue field with a white-edged red upright cross and, behind it, a red diagonal cross offset within a broader white diagonal cross.
What do the colours of the United Kingdom flag mean?
Red: from the crosses of St George and St Patrick. White: from the field of St George and the saltire of St Andrew. Blue: the field of St Andrew's saltire, for Scotland.
When was the United Kingdom flag adopted?
The current design dates from 1801, and its official ratio is 1:2.

Related pages

Sources

  1. Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked