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.

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

2 The Saltire is the flag of Scotland.

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

4 Colours are always separated by white borders.

5 This is the saltire of the Principality of Wales.

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

7 So extra white space is added to separate the elements.

8 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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