Royal Standard: Encyclopedia II - Royal Standard - United Kingdom

Royal Standard - United Kingdom

In England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and other British territories the flag is split into four quadrants. The first and fourth quadrants represent England and contain three gold lions passant on a red field; the second quadrant represents Scotland contains a red lion rampant on a gold field; the third quadrant represents Ireland and contains the gold harp of Ireland on a blue field.

In Scotland, a similar flag is used, except that the lion rampant occurs in the first and fourth quadrants, and the lions passant occur in the second quadrant.

The modern Royal Standard, apart from minor changes (notably to the form of harp used to represent Ireland), dates back to the reign of Queen Victoria. Earlier Royal Standards incorporated the Arms of Hanover and France, representing the monarch's position as Elector (later King) of Hanover and the theoretical claim made to the French throne. The most famous standards include the Scotland Impaled Royal Standard of Queen Anne, Hanover Quartered of Kings George I to George III, and Hanover crowned of George III to William IV. The latter contained the Royal Coat of Arms of Hanover superimposed over what is the modern Royal Standard (though the standard's visual representation of England, Ireland and Scotland in their quadrants was marginally different).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "United Kingdom", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki