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The Union Flag was created by royal decree on 12 April 1606, three years after James VI of Scotland inherited the crown of England, by joining the red cross of Saint George and the white saltire of Saint Andrew; the red saltire of Saint Patrick was added on 1 January 1801. No law has ever made it the national flag: it became one by precedent. The royal arms reached their present form in 1837.
Flag
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Coat of Arms
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| Flag | The Union Flag or Union Jack: the crosses of Saint George, Saint Andrew and Saint Patrick |
|---|---|
| Created | Royal decree of 12 April 1606; present design since 1 January 1801 |
| Status | National flag by precedent; no law has made it so |
| Royal arms | England in the 1st and 4th quarters, Scotland in the 2nd, Ireland in the 3rd; present form since 1837 |
| Mottoes | Dieu et mon droit; Honi soit qui mal y pense (Order of the Garter) |
The flag of the union was born of the Union of the Crowns in 1603. These are its stages, from James VI and I through the Commonwealth and the union with Ireland to today.
Click the thumbnails to go through the flags.
1606
Azure, the cross saltire of St Andrew argent surmounted by the Cross of St George gules, fimbriated of the second.
In 1603 James VI of Scotland inherited the Kingdom of England as James I, uniting the crowns in a personal union. Several designs juxtaposing the two crosses were drawn up, and on 12 April 1606 a royal decree ordered the subjects of the “Isle and Kingdome of Great Britaine” to bear in their main-top “the Red Crosse, commonly called St George’s Crosse, and the White Crosse, commonly called St Andrew’s Crosse, joyned together according to the forme made by our heralds”. The flag was at first used only at sea, and in 1634 Charles I restricted it to the ships of the navy. Scottish shipmasters complained that the English cross was drawn through the Scottish one, and there is reason to think that an unofficial Scottish variant, with the saltire uppermost, was flown on Scottish vessels during the 17th century. After the Acts of Union 1707 the flag gained a regularised status as “the ensign armorial of the Kingdom of Great Britain” and was adopted by land forces as well.
1649
Two escutcheons joined: the red cross of England and the harp of Ireland.
During the Interregnum royalist ships kept the Union Jack of 1606, while on 22 February 1649 the Council of State decided that the ships in the service of the State should bear only the red cross in a white flag, an order signed by Oliver Cromwell the next day. A decision of 23 February added that on the stern there was to be “the Red Crosse in one Escotcheon, and the Harpe in one other, being the Armes of England and Ireland”, joined together: the flag known as the Parliament Jack. Scotland was formally united with England in 1654, but according to Perrin (1922) its saltire did not reappear on naval flags until 1658. Wikimedia Commons dates this flag 1649 to 1651; according to Wikipedia it was replaced in 1658.
1658
The Union Flag of 1606, with the harp of Ireland in the centre.
In 1658 the cross-and-harp jack was replaced by the “Protectorate Jack”: the royal Union Flag with the addition of the Irish harp at the centre. It was used until the Restoration of 1660, when the arms of Ireland were removed because Charles II found them offensive; the flag of 1606 returned.
1801
The crosses of Saint George, Saint Andrew and Saint Patrick combined.
The current Union Flag dates from 1 January 1801, when the Act of Union 1800 merged the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland. It added a red saltire for Ireland, the cross of Saint Patrick, which originates from the arms of the FitzGerald family rather than directly from the saint. It is counterchanged with the saltire of Saint Andrew, so that the red always follows the white clockwise; the flag therefore has a right way up. No law has made it the national flag: it became one by precedent. In 1908 it was stated in Parliament that “the Union Jack should be regarded as the National flag”, and in 1933 the Home Secretary Sir John Gilmour declared that “the Union Flag is the national flag and may properly be flown by any British subject on land”.
The present royal arms originated in the separate arms of the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland; Wales had been incorporated into the Kingdom of England in the 16th century. They changed several times until 1837, with the Protectorate, new monarchs and new unions. These are their stages.
Click the thumbnails to go through the coats of arms.
1603
The royal arms of England quartered with those of Scotland, with the arms of Ireland added.
After the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, the throne of England was inherited by the Scottish House of Stuart. James VI and I quartered the royal arms of England with those of Scotland and added the royal arms of Ireland. The Tudor monarchs had used a Welsh dragon as a supporter; it was replaced by the Scottish unicorn when the Stuarts inherited the throne. These arms returned at the Restoration in 1660, and Anne used them again from 1702 until 1707.
1655
Quarterly, 1st and 4th Argent a cross Gules (England), 2nd Azure a saltire Argent (Scotland), 3rd Azure an ancient harp Or (Ireland), overall on an inescutcheon Sable a rampant lion Argent armed and langued Gules (Cromwell).
The royal arms remained unchanged from 1603 until 1707 except during the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, and for William III’s escutcheon of Nassau. The arms of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector combined the crosses of England and Scotland and the harp of Ireland, with his own lion in the centre; according to Wikipedia they were used on the great seal from 1655 to 1659, while Wikimedia Commons dates the drawing 1653 to 1659 in its title and 1649 to 1660 in its description.
1689
The royal arms of William III, with an escutcheon of Nassau, impaled with those of Mary II.
James II was deposed and replaced by his daughter Mary II and his son-in-law and nephew William III. According to the table of Wikipedia’s article on the royal arms of England, which gives no reference for this point, the co-monarchs impaled their arms, the husband’s taking the dexter half. William used an escutcheon of Nassau, the house to which he belonged. After Mary’s death in 1694 he used his arms alone, and in 1702 Anne returned to the arms of 1603.
1707
Quarterly: I and IV, England impaling Scotland; II, France; III, Ireland.
The Acts of Union 1707 united the kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain, which came into being on 1 May 1707. The royal arms of England and Scotland were impaled in the first and fourth quarters, representing their union, with France in the second quarter and the harp of Ireland in the third; the Kingdom of Ireland remained separate.
1714
The fourth quarter changed to the arms of Hanover.
On the death of Queen Anne, George I, previously Elector of Hanover, inherited the throne under the Act of Settlement 1701, and the fourth quarter of the arms was changed to represent his titles in Hanover.
1801
Quarterly: I and IV, England; II, Scotland; III, Ireland; over all an escutcheon of Hanover under an electoral bonnet.
In 1801 Great Britain and Ireland were united to form the United Kingdom, and the monarch’s claim to the French throne was dropped and the French quarter removed. Outside Scotland, England took the first and fourth quarters, Scotland the second and Ireland the third, with Hanover on an escutcheon topped by an electoral bonnet; within Scotland, the Scottish and English quarters were reversed. In 1816 the electoral bonnet was replaced by a crown, Hanover having become a kingdom; Wikipedia gives both 1816 and 1814 for that change of status.
1837
Quarterly: I and IV, England; II, Scotland; III, Ireland.
In 1837 Victoria became queen of the United Kingdom, but not of Hanover, whose Salic law barred women from the succession, and the escutcheon of Hanover was removed. According to Wikipedia, the new arms were announced in The London Gazette on 26 July 1837 and first used in The Gazette on 8 August 1837. This was the final change to the blazon: later changes were purely stylistic, such as the Irish harp no longer showing a bare-breasted woman. In 1901 Edward VII considered adding the arms of Saxony and a representation for Wales, but was dissuaded. The Irish harp remained after the division of Ireland, which Wikipedia dates to 1921 in one passage and 1922 in another.
Royal arms — as used outside Scotland.
Quarterly, I and IV Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale Or langued and armed Azure. II Or a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules. III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent.
Surrounding the shield is the Order of the Garter, the United Kingdom’s most senior order of knighthood, with its motto Honi soit qui mal y pense. The supporters are a crowned English lion on the dexter and a chained Scottish unicorn on the sinister, the crest a crowned lion standing on the imperial crown above the royal helm, and the motto Dieu et mon droit. Roses, thistles and shamrocks grow from the same stem on the compartment.
The royal arms in Scotland use the same elements with Scottish precedence: the arms of Scotland in the first and fourth quarters and England in the second, the collar of the Order of the Thistle, a crowned red lion holding a sword and sceptre as crest, the unicorn on the dexter, and the Scots motto In defens. Only thistles grow on the compartment, which carries the motto of the Order of the Thistle, Nemo me impune lacessit.
Changes to the blazon of the royal arms are in the royal prerogative, presumed to be under ministerial advice.
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own page in the atlas.
Both terms are used to describe the national flag of the United Kingdom.
The first Union Flag, joining the cross of Saint George and the saltire of Saint Andrew, was specified in a royal decree of 12 April 1606. The present design, with the saltire of Saint Patrick, dates from 1 January 1801.
No law has made it the national flag: it became one by precedent. In 1908 it was stated in Parliament that the Union Jack should be regarded as the national flag, and in 1933 the Home Secretary Sir John Gilmour declared that it may properly be flown by any British subject on land.
Wales was considered an integral part of the Kingdom of England when the flag of Great Britain was created in 1606, so the flag has no Welsh symbol or colours.
The unicorn is the Scottish supporter. The Tudor monarchs had used a Welsh dragon as a supporter, and it was replaced by the Scottish unicorn when the Stuarts inherited the English throne in 1603.
Since 1801 the red saltire of Saint Patrick has been counterchanged with the white saltire of Saint Andrew, so that the red always follows the white clockwise: the flag only looks right one way up.
Illustrations: Wikimedia Commons. Arms of 1603–1837, including Cromwell’s, by Sodacan (CC BY-SA 3.0); flags in the public domain.
Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on 21 October 2026.
