THE ROYAL STANDARD

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 54, Issue 3899, 10 May 1937, Page 18 (Supplement)

THE ROYAL STANDARD

KING’S PERSONAL FLAG. The Royal Standard of the British Isles bears the quartered arms of England and Scotland, and formerly those of Ireland. It is flown at the place where the King resides and on certain occasions of national celebration. The design of the Royal Standard has undergone many changes at various tiinie in British history. Up to the time of Ihe Stuarts it had been the custom of the Lord High Admiral or person in command of the fleet to fly the Royal Standard as deputy for the Sovereign. When Royalty ceased to be, a new flag was devised by the Council of State for the Commonwealth which comprised the “arms of England, and Ireland in two several escutcheons in a red flag within a compartment.” In other words, it was a red flag containing two shields, the one bearing the cross of St. George, red on a white ground, the other the harp, gold on a blue ground, and round the shields was a wreath of palm and shamrock leaves. One of these flags is still in existence at Chatham dockyard, where it is kept in a wooden chest which was taken out of a Spanish galleon at Vigo byAdmiral Sir George Rooke in 170-1. When Cromwell became Protector of the Commonwealth of England he devised for himself a personal standard. This had the cross of St. George in the first and fourth quarters, the cross of St. Andrew', a white saltire, on a blue ground, in the second, and the Irish harp in the third. His own arms—a lion on a black shield—were imposed on the centre of the „ No one but Royalty' has a right to fly the Royal Standard, and though it is constantly seen flying for purposes of decoration its use is irregular. There has, however, always been one exception, namely, that the Lord High Admiral when in executive command of a fleet, has been entitled to fly the Royal Standard. For example, Lord Howard flew it from the mainmast of the Ark Royal w’hen he defeated the Spanish Armada, the Duke of Buckingham flew' it as Lord High Admiral in the reign of Charles I, and the Duke of York fought under it during the Dutch wars.