English Supremacy in the Union Flag

Two things should be immediately apparent when comparing the Union Flag with those of its constituent parts.

The first is that the blue is all wrong. The St Andrew's Cross is supposed to be sky blue. The official flag of Scotland records Pantone 300 as the optimum color. It has a very long history.

The legend goes that King Óengus II, in 832 CE, led his combined Scottish and Pictish army against the invading Angles. They were successful! In the aftermath of battle, Óengus looked up at the sky to discover that a freak cloud configuration had created the St Andrew's cross. 

The Scottish flag therefore shows white clouds against a blue sky, inspired by a real sighting after an historical defeat of the English.

Which is perhaps why Queen Anne and her council, in 1707, disdained the shade for one more suited to English pride. The blue in the Union Flag is Pantone 280. Which also just happens to be the shade of blue used in the Blue Ensign of the Royal Navy.

In short, England recolored the Scottish flag, so that it said less about that nation and more about Britannia ruling the waves.

The second thing to notice is how much smaller the St Patrick Cross is to the other two. 

The actual proportions are one strip of white, two strips of red and three strips of white. It jostles for distinction in the same space as the Scottish St Andrew's Cross.

This is in comparison with the St George Cross, which is already slightly larger than both. That is two strips of white, four of red, then another two of white. 

All things being equal, the white saltire should include the red dead center, but its not. The Irish flag is positioned off to one side, designed to be viewed as anti-clockwise. This not only gives it lower precedence than the Scottish flag, but also implies a negative aspect. It would otherwise have been clockwise.

This is how the Union Flag would look, if it was color corrected and each of the three parts were afforded an equal size.

Of course, equality in the Union Flag can only ever be relative. The fact that England's St George Cross is layered on top of all of the rest gives a very clear message. England should be viewed as the dominant nation here.

This was an implication which wasn't lost on Scots. From the moment the Union Flag was first introduced, alternative versions appeared north of the English border. It depicted the St Andrew's Cross on top of the St George's Cross.

All Scottish ships and boats carried this version instead, and it was also flown from the top of Edinburgh Castle. It took legislation to stop that happening.

The observant amongst you may have noticed that all this talk about Ireland being under-represented should be a moot point.  The country shouldn't be there at all!

The Republic of Ireland has not been in the United Kingdom since December 6th 1922. When the nation earned its independence (after a victorious, but devastating war), everyone expected that the St Patrick's Flag would simply be removed.

It wasn't, because the United Kingdom had retained Northern Ireland.  This was despite the fact that the Red Hand of Ulster, which is emblematic of that country, is nowhere to be seen on the Union Flag.  Instead, the St Patrick's Saltire that is shown is representative of the entire of Ireland.

This caused an immediate issue for the new Republic of Ireland, which found itself unable to use its own national flag.

There have occasionally been questions asked in the Dáil Éireann about this. Ministers have suggested sending diplomatic representation to Westminster, formally requesting that Ireland be removed from the Union Flag. But there's no record of Eire having actually done it.

In reality, there's no need beyond the whole morality of the issue. Eire forged on ahead, as its own nation, under a green, white and orange tricolor that better matched the country's hard-won freedom. It was designed by a group of sympathetic French women in 1848, in early recognition of the fact that Ireland should be free.

It was this tricolor, not the St Patrick's Saltire, which was raised above the General Post Office during the Easter Rising of 1916. It was this which had more meaning to the Irish people.

However, it's still an ominous indication of the real thoughts in Westminster that the saltire of the whole of Ireland was never taken out of the Union Flag.

Technically Northern Ireland is shown, as that was the excuse for keeping the St Patrick Saltire in the Union Flag.  But only one emblem is going to point to Ulster and that's the Red Hand.

The story goes that Ulster once found itself without an heir to the throne.  All of the likely candidates set sail in a boat race with the winner being the first hand to touch the shore. This would be the King.

Labraid of the clan Uí Néill was losing, but he was also desperate to win. He cut off his own hand and threw it onto the beach past the winning boat. Thus he became Labraid Lámh Dhearg (Labraid of the Red Hand) and the rightful king of Ulster.

There is no red hand on the Union Flag. The saltire indicating Northern Ireland was there long before that was even a country. The St Patrick's Cross represents Eire and Ulster combined.

Nor are the St Piran's Cross of Cornwall and Y Ddraig Goch (The Red Dragon) of Wales depicted. The excuse usually given is that both countries have been annexed by England. Therefore they should both be represented by the St George Cross.

The other reason is that Scotland, England and Ireland had all been separately governed countries before they joined the United Kingdom. Hence the flag should only show them, as they were the only ones united.

In which case, Cornwall and Wales have a case for stating that they aren't even in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  This, of course, is not in the agreement.  Wherever the U.K. has representation, then Wales and Cornwall are dragged into it too.