Name | Union Jack or Union Flag |
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Use | National flag |
Proportion | 1:2 |
Adopted | 1 January 1801 |
Design | A white-fimbriated symmetric red cross on a blue field with a white-fimbriated counterchanged saltire of red and white. |
Variant flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
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Use | Civil ensign |
Proportion | 1:2 |
Design | A red field with the Union Flag in the canton. See Red ensign. |
Variant flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
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Use | State ensign |
Proportion | 1:2 |
Design | A blue field with the Union Flag in the canton. See Blue ensign. |
Variant flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
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Use | Naval ensign |
Proportion | 1:2 |
Design | A symmetric red cross on a white field with the Union Flag in the canton. See White ensign. |
Variant flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
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Proportion | 1:2 |
Design | A field of air force blue with the Union Flag in the canton and the RAF roundel in the middle of the fly. |
The national flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Union Jack, also called the "Union Flag".
The current design of the Union Jack dates from the union of Ireland and Great Britain in 1801. It consists of the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of England), edged in white, superimposed on the Cross of St Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which are superimposed on the Saltire of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland). Wales, however, is not represented in the Union Flag by Wales's patron saint, Saint David, as at the time the flag was designed Wales was part of the Kingdom of England.
The flag's standard height-to-length proportions are 1:2. The war flag variant used by the British Army modifies the proportions to 3:5 and crops two of the red diagonals.
The earlier flag of Great Britain was established in 1606 by a proclamation of King James VI and I of Scotland and England. The new flag of the United Kingdom was officially created by an Order in Council of 1801, reading as follows: