Union Jack design

STRICTLY SPEAKING it’s the Union Flag. The Jack is only properly applied when it’s flown on a ship. It’s one of the more complex flags, and it’s notoriously hard to draw. Here’s how it came about.

The St George’s Cross is the flag of England.

The Saltire is the flag of Scotland.

Put them together, and you get this. But under flag rules, two colours are not allowed to touch.

Colours are always separated by white borders.

This is the saltire of the Principality of Wales.

Adding it into the mix breaks the rules again: two colours are not allowed to touch.

So extra white space is added to separate the elements.

But Wales is a principality, not a country. So it mustn’t appear to dominate. That’s why the Welsh saltire is offset in this curious way, to give it less prominence.

The golden rule: the thick white stripe is always on the right, at the top corner nearest the flagpole. The following thick white stripes follow in clockwise fashion around the flag.

See also

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