The Union Steve?

[cdave]

Ah yes, I remember the other thing I wanted to post about.

This has recently appeared on the flag pole on Jubilee Gardens.



It's barely fluttering, so it took us a few minutes to figure out what was wrong. The colours are the wrong way round!

Anyone know what's going here?

Comments

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Not a jot of the Welsh flag, of course.

[makyo.livejournal.com]

According to this, the Welsh flag (per fess argent and vert, a dragon passant gules) only received official recognition in 1959, although it had been in use for some centuries before. The green and white were added during Tudor times but the red dragon dates back much further.

More recently, the flag of St David (sable, a cross or) has risen in popularity, as has the flag of St Piran in Cornwall. I guess these are both alternative candidates for incorporation into a redesigned Union flag, although the result would end up being rather complicated.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Or we could just stick a red dragon right in the middle.

[makyo.livejournal.com]

Yes, that'd probably be a sensible compromise (and has the added advantage that it'd irritate people who probably deserve to be irritated).

[idaho-smith.livejournal.com]

Red dragon on top of a red cross and red saltire = v.v.bad heraldry/vexilology.

Also the people in your link do have a point: the current flag is the Crosses/Saltires of the national saints, not the national symbol itself: St.George, St Andrew and St. Patrick. The dragon is a national symbol, not a saint's. The parallels would be the three 'gold' Lions courant of England, the 'Red' Lion rampant of Scotland and either the gold harp of Ireland or the Red hand of Ulster.
Nonetheless, it might be easier than trying to get a gold-on-black roman cross to agree with what we have already.

[makyo.livejournal.com]

Yes, good point. Maybe the cross of St David could be combined with the cross of St George in the same way that the saltires of Ss Patrick and Andrew are: a cross gyronny gules and or, fimbriated argent perhaps.