Fly the Union (Jack) flag correctly !

The British Union (Jack) flag is made up of the three national flags of England, Scotland and Ireland, as you can see here :-

Note that it is NOT symmetrical! Look at the white diagonals. You fly the flag the right way up with the wider white diagonal on top, next to the pole. As usual, the pole is assumed to be on the left here.

Flying the flag upside down is "lese Majeste" (which means: insulting the Crown) , and is theoretically still a crime in the UK and its commonwealth! You can find more details here.

The flag is really called the Union Flag. The word "jack" should only be used when the flag is flown from a "Jackstaff" ie onboard a ship. However many ('Merkins?) refer to the 1775 Grand Union Flag (used during their {Union vs. Confederate "Rebel"} Civil War) as the Union Flag, so I (incorrectly) use the term Union Jack here, to avoid their confusion.
Here ist the King's Proclamation from 12th April 1606.

I recently got an Email asking about the "true" colours of the Union Flag. They are:-
Pantone --- WebSafe ----- RGB-------------------- CMYK
280-----------#003399------0-13.5-39------------100-72-0.18 ----- Union Flag Blue
186-----------#cc0000------85.9.11.7-13.8-------0-91.76-6 ------- Union Flag Red

Another Email asked me on which days must the Union Flag be flown. They are:-
Queen's Accession = 6th February
Prince Andrew's Birthday = 19th February
St David's Day [Wales] = 1st March
Prince Edward's Birthday = 10th March
Commonwealth Day = 2nd Monday in March
Queen's Birthday = 21st April
St George's Day [England] = 23rd April
Europe Day = 9th May
Coronation Day = 2nd June
Duke of Edinburgh's Birthday = 10th June
Queen's Official Birthday = in June [varies]
Princess Anne's Birthday = 15th August
Remembrance Sunday = in November [varies]
Prince of Wales' Birthday = 14th November
Queen's Wedding Day = 20th November
St Andrew's Day [Scotland] = 30th November

More UK Flags on Graham's page at www.flags.net

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