Flag of France

French Republic

Name	Tricolour
Use	National flag
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	First as ensign : 15 February 1794 ; As Napoleon army flag : 1812; Readopted July 1830
Design	A vertical tricolour of blue, white, and red
Variant flag of French Republic
Use	National ensign
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	15 February 1794 (with equal bars) ; 17 May 1853 (with bars in proportion 30:33:37)
Design	As above, but with bars in proportion 30:33:37. (See French ensigns.)

The national flag of France is a tricolour flag featuring three vertical bands coloured blue (hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the French Tricolour or simply the Tricolour (French: Tricolore).

The royal government used many flags, the best known being a blue shield and gold fleur-de-lis (the Royal Arms of France) on a white background, or state flag. Early in the French Revolution, the Paris militia, which played a prominent role in the storming of the Bastille, wore a cockade of blue and red, the city's traditional colours. According to Lafayette, white, the "ancient French colour", was added to the militia cockade to create a tricolour, or national, cockade. This cockade became part of the uniform of the National Guard, which succeeded the militia and was commanded by Lafayette. The colours and design of the cockade are the basis of the Tricolour flag, adopted in 1790. The only difference was that the 1790 flag's colours were reversed. A modified design by Jacques-Louis David was adopted in 1794. The royal white flag was used during the Bourbon restoration from 1815 to 1830; the tricolour was brought back after the July Revolution and has been used ever since 1830.

The colours adopted by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, which replaced a darker version of the flag.

Currently, the flag is one and a half times wider than its height (i.e. in the proportion 2:3) and, except in the French navy, has stripes of equal width. Initially, the three stripes of the flag were not equally wide, being in the proportions 30 (blue), 33 (white) and 37 (red). Under Napoleon I, the proportions were changed to make the stripes' width equal, but by a regulation dated 17 May 1853, the navy went back to using the 30:33:37 proportions, which it now continues to use, as the flapping of the flag makes portions farther from the halyard seem smaller.