What an interesting video, thank you. I don't know why the commenters on here want to try and differentiate the union flag from the union Jack when this was clearly explained in the video and it was pointed out that both names could officially be used interchangeably.
I've been banging my head against a brick wall over that very point for over 20 years! Purely a theory and an unproven one at that, but the idea that it is only the Union Jack when flown at sea seemed to start gaining traction around the time that Internet home usage became more common. My suspicion is that someone, somewhere read an incorrect article, or misinterpreted it's historical use as a Jack flag Vs modern use and name, then the misconception took hold with people thinking they were being smart arses and it spread like wildfire over the web. The amount of times I've read internet comments from people who start their post with "Actually...." (usually a surefire indication that they haven't got the first clue about the 'facts' they think they are presenting and are just parroting something they heard without verifying it), wrongly thinking that they are correcting others over the use of the Union Jack name is bloody ridiculous!
As a US citizen, I have an interest in our flag and keep a folder on interesting trivia related to it. I moved not long ago and my neighbor flies the Union Jack outside of their house. I had never seen it done and honestly thought it was in violation of our very, verrryyy long flag code. I was mistaken! In the US, you can fly another country’s flag on private property. If you were to fly both the US flag and another country’s flag, there are regulations involved for doing it correctly. My interest has now expanded to the Union Jack; I am including your video in my new folder.😊 I knew that the Union Jack is a composite of the three flags. I didn’t know it’s full history or that each of the flags represented a saint. That’s just the kind of flag trivia I enjoy! My next video to watch is why the Hawaiian flag has a Union Jack on it. That should be interesting! Thank you for the best explanation and history video on the Union Jack I have seen- and I’ve watched over a dozen. You’ve got a new subscriber! (Something in my life came up recently that might be interesting for you to research. I discovered from DNA testing that I have 99.9% genetics from England and Scotland. I joked that I probably have purer British genes than most Brits. I would love to know if that is true. I haven’t researched it yet. I live in the US South and my family (both sides) all came from the same part of our state. I don’t know when my ancestors actually came here. My daughter is researching her family tree. I hope to know more about it.)
Love the beat illustrations you’ve included. You’re also very cute and have a lovely English accent! 😊 I’d love to see more from you in the future, you’ve just got your newest subscription from me! Keep up the good work!
Living in Wales and excluded from this flag other then an English colony and having a Turkish George as patron saint - need to say no more. Diolch yn fawr.
Im sooooo nervous!!!!! I've got a uni mid term on this tomorrow along w british geography, an overview of british history, magna carta and british politics. Please wish me luck and pray for me!!!
The Red Diagonals is the Cross of Saint Patrick which was chosen to represent Ireland. It is mixed in the background with the White diagonal which is apart of Scotland's Saint Andrew’s Cross. I think the designers took some liberties with the cross sections of course.
The only cross that features in the design of the flag is St. George's Cross. The white and red X are the saltires of St. Andrew and St. Patrick, respectively. The red and white saltires are offset to signify that Scotland became part of the Union prior to Ireland (later Northern Ireland). The flag should be flown with the thicker white band of St. Andrews saltire at the top left as it flies from the mast or pole whether flown horizontally or vertically, signifying that Scotland was incorporated into the Union and represented in the British Flag (as it was then known) prior to Ireland and St. Patrick's saltire being added to the design of the flag.
The diagonal red cross is NOT the cross of Saint Patrick, who had no cross. It is derived from the family cross of the Fitzgerald family, with the chained ape deleted.
Australia needs to bugger it off their national flag. I will always believe the Union Jack should not be a symbol on the Australian flag. It is very disrespectful to Aboriginal-Australians and prevents hundreds of thousands of people from being able to fly it with pride. the current Australian flag only divides people and it’s very sad, they definitely should update it to one that All-Australian citizens can fly with pride. Changing it won’t change what it represents, but it would mean that hundreds and thousands of people could then fly it and feel pride in it.
Who are you? Maybe the first step is to remove all white european settler colonialist descendants in the first place from all the commonwealth realms. But that would be racist anyway so your question about the flag is nonsensical.
Iainy1954. That seemingly popular snippet of vexillological pedantry is incorrect. A joint publication by the UK Parliament and The Flag Institute in 2014 gives the definitive position and reaffirms earlier direction by both the Admiralty (1674 and 1902) and Parliament (1904). Both terms (Union Flag and Union Jack) are valid names. From a naval perspective. When the flag was introduced in 1606 it was directed to be flown by all shipping. King Charles II did issue a proclamation in 1634 that the ‘Union Flagge’ was only to be flown by naval ships; but, this order was repealed in 1707 when permission to fly the flag was once again given to merchant ships. It would appear that for many years the Admiralty referred to the Flag as the Union Jack, whatever its use - indeed the name Union Jack appears to predate the ‘jackstaff’ on ships by about 150 years. In 1902 and Admiralty Circular was issued which announced that it had been decided that either name (Union Flag or Union Jack) could be used. Parliament appears to have extended the ability to fly the flag (which it referred to as the Union Jack) from land in a statement on 14th July 1908. The 2014 document is available on The Flag Institute’s website.
The United Kingdom flag is called the Union Flag, not the Union Jack. The Union Jack is the Union flag flown from the jack staff on the front of Royal Navy ship’s. The reason why Wales is not in the Union flag is because Wales is a Principality and was part of England at unification. The Union Flag represents the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. When Ireland broke away from the Union, the cross of St Patrick was kept as it represents Northern Ireland.
That is incorrect about it only being the Union Jack when flown from the jackstaff. It is a very common misconception, but a misconception none the less. Around the turn of the 20th century, The Admiralty submitted a proposal to Parliament to have the name Union Jack officially recognised as the name for our flag, a proposal that was accepted and approved by Parliament in 1908. The confusion stems from it being flown from the jackstaff as the national identifier for a R.N vessel when in port, but what is often overlooked that the use of Jack flags predates the jackstaff by about 150 years, with the Jack being flown from the mast heads and later, the bowsprit. It wasn't until figureheads and bowsprits gave way to a change in bow and sail design that the jackstaff was implemented, with the staff taking its name from the Jack and not vice versa, as is often misunderstood. The Jack of the name refers to the dimensions of a Jack flag, typically a 1:2 ratio, as opposed to the more common 3:5 ratio that was more familiar with when it was flown on land at the time. The official ratio for our flag that is used now is 1:2 (which is the proper ratio for a Jack flag) with the 3:5 ratio being adopted and used for the British Army's war flag and novelty boxer shorts...probably. What she says in the video about the Union Jack name being not only accepted, but officially recognised when it is flown on land is 100% correct and has been for over a century. The reason for The Admiralty submitting the request was simply down to the global recognition the flag held, which long before T.V, email and widespread telephone usage, would be the first indication those living in the colonies across the Empire and the wider world in general that the Brits were in town when they woke up in the morning to find that a Royal Navy vessel had quietly rocked up in port overnight. It isn't incorrect to call it the Union Flag when flown on land, but regardless of naval useage, or positioning on a jackstaff, calling it the Union Jack when flown on land or sea is also entirely proper and correct these days.
@@bigal3055. Thank you for your excellent and well written explanation. I am copying it with your name and putting it in my file of good-to-know trivia! I have always thought the Union flag is among the prettiest flags in the world and when I first learned it’s history, it became tied with my favorite, the US flag, but that is only because of personal citizen bias! I am sure that I became a flag aficionado because my father, a long serving member of the US Navy, always stopped whatever he was doing, wherever he was and saluted our flag when taps was played. To a young child, it was impressive! He died as a result of military service and is my American hero. My ancestry is completely English and Scottish; I bet I have purer British DNA than most Brits living in Britain! Seriously! I think it is 99.9%! I live in the US and appreciate that this narrator pointed out that the US and other countries have laws regarding the use of our flag. The US has a flag code for handling and displaying our flag that is about 46 printed pages! I don’t think many Americans realize it; I see the code broken all the time. Companies that fly the flag in front of their businesses do so to honor the country but frequently are displaying it in violation of the code! I thought my neighbor across the street is violating it (I haven’t yet asked being a new neighbor) because they fly the Union flag in the front of their house. That’s a new one! I am sure that they are honoring their heritage or their love of Great Britain. I looked online and it says that another country’s flag can be flown on private property in the United States. Learn something new all the time! Thanks again for your explanation.
@merk9569 You're welcome and I'm glad you found it interesting. You want to know something sbout your favourite flag, the U.S flag too? Well, it's not a U.S flag. It's a British flag. Very heavily influenced by an old British flag, at the very least. It's basically the flag of the old East India Company, which was the stars and stripes, but with the Union Jack where the stars of the states are now.
Not true. The name of the Union Jack precedes the name of the jack staff. The Union Flag and Union Jack are both correct terms for the flag. This is from Hansard in 1908 and it’s from a debate in Parliament. Earl Howe: My Lords, I rise to ask His Majesty's Government, with a view to removing any possible doubt that may exist on the subject, whether it is a fact that the full Union Jack may be flown on land by every citizen in the Empire as well as on Government Offices and Public Buildings. The debate concludes thus: THE EARL OF MEATH: My Lords' I am very pleased indeed to hear from His Majesty's Government the statement that the Union Jack may be flown on land by all British subjects. There has been a certain amount of doubt on the subject, and it is as well that it should have been set at rest. It is rather curious that a British citizen is about the only one who is not quite certain under what flag he really stands as a private citizen; and I have known of some instances in this country where the Union Jack has actually been pulled down by the police. I am obliged to His Majesty's Government for having definitely cleared up this matter.
It wasn't really about independence, it was ultimately about union, which to be a member of, a British nation that was also part of the UK or a British nation that became an EU statelet. That's why the SNPeens moved the original ref forward from 2018 to 2014 to jump ahead of the EU ref. The SNPeens are globalists afterall and stand against Brexit in everything, it's ironic because they used to be anti-EU in the 80s and 90s, they were only for it when the UK as a whole gradually demonstrated it's Euroscepticism after 1993 when it was first formed. Plus Scotland has always been partly independent (as was England), even after 1707, in fact if anything it would be fair to say England is dominated by the UK structure and does not have its own exclusive parliament, Scotland not only has its own parliament it even has its own sovereign exclusive government as well as its share of control of the UK parliament of Westminster. Even Wales has its own Assembley as well as a presence in the UK-wide parliament, England is the only one which does not have its own structure for English-only interests, as a result, England is run by Scottish elected MPs as well but the Scottish Parliament of Holyrood is run only by Scottish elected MSPs. The British nations though are semi-independent, they each have always retained their own national institutions such as their own seperate common law systems, education systems and state kirks etc, while also sharing the same British citizenry status and passports, monetary pound sterling currency and military defence with their own regiments of the British army as a whole. What some fail to realise is that there is more than one British nation, England is just one and only makes up part of Great Britain, Britain is a geographical island which contains three distinct nations - Scotland (the North), England (the South) and Wales (the West). Britain is a geographical identity of heritage and Scotland, England and Wales are nations in their own right that are partly independent but also partly unionised, and together make up Great Britain. Great Britain became a thing in the year 1707 when the Kingdom of Scotland was joined by the Kingdom of England (with the Principality of Wales) into an act of union - what this essentially did was make them retain independence in their own local national customs such as having their own national common law systems, their own education systems and their own state kirks etc, but also sharing the same monetary currency, the same British citizenship (though seperate nationality as well as being collectively British) and the same unionised military defence (while still keeping their own historic national regiments like the Scots Grey's, the Black watch the Kings own Scottish borders and Highland Fusiliers etc as well as English and Welsh regiments like the Welsh Guards) and foreign affairs etc. Here for example, and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised to see an American actually get it pretty much right here - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uh_WxSfpIHE.html
Ireland was invaded and enslaved by the evil Normans some decades after they did that to the English. The Irish never accepted foreign rule. Unfortunately Scotland’s nobility sold their country to post Norman England.
Originally, yes, but its use as a de facto national flag for use on land is pretty established now. The term Union Jack also applies as much as Union Flag as it has become a proper name whether it is on a jack staff or not - in the same way that Tom Baker can call himself that despite him having nothing to do with making bread. Union Flag is also correct on land but the issue with that (apart from often coming across as a pompous hyper-correction to jack) is that it can apply to many other flags; not least the flag of the USA. Union Jack is unambiguous.
That is incorrect about it only being the Union Jack when flown from the jackstaff, or at sea in general. It is a very common misconception, but a misconception none the less. Around the turn of the 20th century, The Admiralty submitted a proposal to Parliament to have the name Union Jack officially recognised as the name for our flag, a proposal that was accepted and approved by Parliament in 1908. The confusion stems from it being flown from the jackstaff as the national identifier for a R.N vessel when in port, but what is often overlooked that the use of Jack flags predates the jackstaff by about 150 years, with the Jack being flown from the mast heads and later, the bowsprit. It wasn't until figureheads and bowsprits gave way to a change in bow and sail design that the jackstaff was implemented, with the staff taking its name from the Jack and not vice versa, as is often misunderstood. The Jack of the name refers to the dimensions of a Jack flag, typically a 1:2 ratio, as opposed to the more common 3:5 ratio that was more familiar with when it was flown on land at the time. The official ratio for our flag that is used now is 1:2 (which is the proper ratio for a Jack flag) with the 3:5 ratio being adopted and used for the British Army's war flag and novelty boxer shorts...probably. What she says in the video about the Union Jack name being not only accepted, but officially recognised when it is flown on land is 100% correct and has been for over a century. The reason for The Admiralty submitting the request was simply down to the global recognition the flag held, which long before T.V, email and widespread telephone usage, would be the first indication those living in the colonies across the Empire and the wider world in general that the Brits were in town when they woke up in the morning to find that a Royal Navy vessel had quietly rocked up in port overnight. It isn't incorrect to call it the Union Flag when flown on land, but regardless of naval useage, or positioning on a jackstaff, calling it the Union Jack when flown on land or sea is also entirely proper and correct these days. You're welcome.
