@@chwah7504 There is a physical harp named after Brian Ború but it's unlikely he had anything to do with it. An Daghda is very much associated with harps and they feature frequently in stories about him. However, as covered above, they're unlikely to resemble anything like the instrument we'd call a harp today, probably more like a strummed lyre.
@@chwah7504 This is a saxon instrument, but the Irish and British cláirsigh were likely similar. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qaJYclpNwUE.html
@@peterhoulihan9766 The harp could very well have been adopted because of its christain symbolizism , it's referred to as king David's harp in the 13th century coat of arms.
I asked an Irish guy what the colors in the Irish flag meant. He said " the green is for the Catholics , the orange is for the protestants and the white represents the gulf of mutual incomprehension ".
Amazing how cultures differ, yea even under one roof. I was told the same for green and orange, but for the white. Was the piece between them. I often thought it should be red, for the blood each took from the other.
The Tri colour was brought into existence by the exiled Irish in France , hence called the tri colour . The original design was to have hands shaking across the white , but the two colours were there to represent the Catholics and Protestants .
@johngorniak6900 the first Irish tricolour was made on French silk and featured the red hand of ulster at centre. It was made by women of the Grand Orient Lodge Paris and presented to and flown by Thomas Francis meagher leader of the young irelanders revoluționary republican group at 33 the Mall Waterford on St Patrick's Day 1848 headquarters of a group called The Wolfe Țone Society.
@Eileen Delaney Paris is where freemasonry is run from, yes. The Queen is world leader through her title Sovereign of the garter, The Order of the garter being the world leading freemasonic lodge.
Hilbert on behalf of the Irish people mad respect, no one does this kind of content of Irish history on RU-vid except for you, so thank you for sharing Irish history!
10:40 Sees the word 'orange' on screen in one of Hilbert's videos: immediately prepares to lower volume as soon as the inevitable Wilhelmus starts blowing my speakers out. Spoiler alert: doesn't happen! Who are you and what have you done with Hilbert?
As an Irish man I have to say your knowledge of our complex history is very impressive; as is your sensitive delivery of a topic that is almost impossible to discuss rationally on the internet. Great stuff!
The cláirseach-on-blue flag is still the official flag of the President of Ireland, and the green version still used for the Eastern province of Leinster. I know, I know, minor details.
@@talideon MINOR DETAILS I SAID 🤫. Nah, thx. I could blame autocorrect, or looking at my map upside-down, but really I just wasn't as attentive as I should have been.
Strangely enough the colour of St Patrick is blue, not green, this can be seen on the British royal coat of arms. (feck them). Oh he just said this in the documentary, I was jumping the gun. But I'd look stupid wearing blue on Paddies day
Very true. Especially ancient Ireland and the Brehon Laws itself. Tbf tho I did cringed every time he mentioned Ireland as Scotland in this video as that part had been very mixeded up, which could've been avoided. Also he said France tried to invade ireland in the 1640s which I'm very confused on where he got that from
Danté describes the Irish use of the harp in the 13th century. He describes the harp of Erin flag in detail. The harp is called the Anúna (An Uaithne) in ancient Gaelic mythology, and is attributed to Daghdha, the Irish father god, and Angus Óg, his son, the Irish god of love and poetry.
yeh man i agree, i enjoy the structural integrity those random shaped flags like switzerland and nepal being maintained. i have a feeling Hilbert's editing software is probably the reason lol.
How is a 1:2 ratio particularly remarkable? The UK and many Commonwealth nations use that ratio (the Free State was a Dominion just like Canada or Australia). It is a bit longer than the 2:3 commonly associated with vertical tricolour flags but it makes complete sense as the typical ratio used around Ireland when the flag evolved. Still, those are the two most commonly used flag ratios with 3:5 probably being a distant third. The 10:19 ratio of the US and former US colonial possessions is probably fourth and then it gets obscure.
2023: Saint Patrick's Day: An Englishman living in Friesland Who despite living in Northern Ireland for several years had no idea of the Irish tricolour symbolising peaceful coexistence, now learning this by stumbling across Hilbert again - Himself with Friesland and English background if I remember rightly from his other videos. Thank you!
I personally have no direct connection to Ireland but I do have a particularly developed interest in the fascinating history and culture of Ireland and the British Isles. Thank you for the very informative video!
I disagree with a few things in this video, for example blue is still today and always has been the national colour for Ireland, since the days of the old Irish kingdoms. Also I have done alot of music here in Ireland and have friends who are harpists, your history of the Harp is a new one to me and them. But good video.
(Copied and pasted this from my comment) 2:00 THATS BECAUSE "SCOTTISH GAELIC" IS AN *OFFSHOOT* OF IRISH GAELIC. He went down a bit of a rabbithole there. The Scottish got their Gaelic language, culture etc etc from IRELAND. (Via the IRISH dál riata clan)
@@el_iron_duke The Indian Flag is based on the Irish Tri colour, in fact there was great co operation between DeValera and the newly formed Indian independent government, as an aside there is a Boulevard in Delhi named after DeValera as a tribute to him for the advice he gave India during their fight for independence.
@@Rasher1974 I can't find anything to substantiate the claim that India's flag is based on the Irish flag. Its based on an original design that had red to represt the Hindu community, Green to represent the Muslim community, and white to represent other religious groups.
Big kudos for researching pronunciations properly - even Tom Scott got the pronunciation of harp wrong (and got the Scots version not Irish!) Thomas Francis Meagher raised the flag on the Mall in Waterford, and I know the guy each year who reenacts him - he grows the moustache each time! Where I am we'd pronounce his surname as one syllable, like Johnny Marr, we'd just stretch out the vowel slightly. GRMA Hilbert Worth noting the blue used is St Patrick's blue, and is the official colour of Ireland used (if you look at the President's seal). Green became intertwined later on for all the reasons in the video, especially as blue features on the British flag it could be distinct that we became independent.
Your pronunciation of Gaelic (et.al.)are a great part of your videos. It actually lead to my binging of your videos and subscription. I think 🤔 every video you make should include this excellent talent of yours. Perhaps a key phrase in the beginning and another to reward those watching the whole subject. Semper Fidelis, cousin.
I thought that the title "Lord of Ireland" was bestowed upon the English King himself, and the nobleman appointed as Administrator was called "Lord Lieutenant of Ireland"
@@keelanmurphy9941 Seeing as he was the the first Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State, The direct predecessor to the Republic of Ireland. I think its a pretty safe to say Collins was a pretty central fucking figure......... dead or not.
@@michaeld8280 Yeah, a provisional interim government, to which he was not elected, and on which he served all of five minutes before the Civil War broke out. Central figure or not, "Father of the Republic" is not accurate. He was one brick in the construction of it, and only at the forefront for about two years. He was a charismatic figure, which is why he's a lot more favoured than, say, Griffith or Cosgrave. Same reason a figurehead like Pearse is idolised while the de facto leaders and planners, Clarke, Mac Diarmada and Plunkett, are left by the wayside. And, more importantly, he died young and handsome and untainted by a long and morally complicated political career that undoubtedly would have come after.
@@keelanmurphy9941 He was more than a brick. He was the man picked to lead Ireland during her first steps of independence. Did his assassination play a part in his legacy, of course. Just like any major political figure who is murdered. He was the commander in chief. If Washington died in the revolution would we dismiss him because he didn't get a chance to run for office??
I'm American. My grandma was born in 1902 in Ireland. She immigrated here in 1929 and married a Canadian in 1931. She explained to me what it was to be Irish and our history. I miss her dearly.
Nice Ivory Coast flag at the beginning. The golden harp on a green background is still used as the flag & coat of arms of the province of Leinster (East). The golden harp on a blue background is used as the Presidential flag. Also the 'South' became the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann), not the Republic in 1922, but all of that shite would assumably need its own video, what with the Irish Civil War and all.
@@RyanTheMan000 I know I thought the same at first, his accent is even regional, but I have heard he spent some time living in Nottingham or somewhere and maybe still does but is in fact Dutch and from the Netherlands originally.
I would like to point that There actually another flag that they use however it was only Used in the Easter Rising. This was the Irish Republic Flag which like the harp flag has a green background but what make it different than the other two flags this one was emblazoned with the words Irish Republic in gold and white.
The Irish tricolour the flag of the Irish repuplic, is actually a flag of Unity using green of celtic-gaelic tradisions, white representing peace and orange enccompassing the protestant tradition ... it is a flag of unity.
Great video. Excellent Irish language pronunciation. @8:50 the United Irish were not just simply another outfit of patriots. They were ideologically republican, secular and pluralist. Or at least the leadership was. Sectarianism was found amongst the rank-and-file. As stated in their name, they wanted to unite Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter (i.e. Presbyterian) into the common name of Irish. The flag seen at @1:14 is seen today as the flag of Hibernianism, a conservative Irish nationalism, popular in the Irish community in the US, and parts of rural Ireland. Displaying this flag is purposefully communicating an Ireland not republican, secular and pluralistic.
@History With Hilbert, a couple of corrections/clarifications: 1) James & William: James II converted to Catholicism even before he ascended to the throne, and upon the latter declared religious tolerance without exception (the one declared after his overthrow excluded Catholics). William was a reluctant sectarian as well, offering religious toleration to Catholics in the Peace of Limerick, only to be vetoed by Parliament in London. The pope endorsed William because he was more worried about the Gallican Heresy (James was beholden to Louis XIV) than Protestant persecution. 2) The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922 created an autonomous Irish Free State in the south. Independence would not be declared and recognized until 1948 (in a photo finish with India and Israel).
He's proposing that the Irish word for harp has the same root as the word cruthin, which means British or pict, and that the harp might have originally been a pictish symbol, but this seems unlikely and I don't think there is a connection between those two words.
@@thenextshenanigantownandth4393 its not though. He proposed this happened from the Dál Ríata bringing it to Ireland from Scotland when this is ridiculous as the Dál Ríata were an Irish Kingdom.
@@mcfcfan1870 :: Iona was a deserted Island when Saint Columcille and 12 other Irish Monks built a monastery there in the 7th century. They spread out from there converting Picts and Northern English to Celtic-Catholicism.
If Ulster rejoins the rest of Ireland as some think might be a possibility now that Sinn Fein are in government in Stormont, the Irish may need to return to this flag. The tricolor has become heavily associated with the IRA in the minds of northern protestants - despite the fact that it was originally designed to be inclusive (green & orange - Catholic and Protestant.) Symbolism is a fickle thing.
The harp is a fine flag, but I'm more partial to the sun brust flag myself. The harp as a instrument god knows how far back in human history that goes, but as a flag is solely Irish similar to how saltire didn't originate in Scotland but is considered scottish with blue and white. Also the united Irishmen didn't invent the green harp flag its origins go back to the confederates and Owen Roe O'Neill, it was a commonly used by the Irish long before the united Irishmen.
And Owen Roe O'Neil never used the harp flag of Erin. He seems to have gotten that inaccurate information from Wikipedia, it was just a normal harp on a green background.
Sinn Fein was not really involved in 1916, the English press associated Sinn Fein with Easter 1916, but they were only tangentially involved. The whole thing was organized by the Irish Republican Brotherhood with the help of the Irish Citizen's Army and Cumann na mBan, all of which were Republicans, whereas the original Sinn Fein of Arthur Griffith (ironically) was for a dual monarchy, and wanted something like the Free States but for all or Ireland.
Two questions: Are you sure Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill used a harp with the 'winged maiden'? My understanding is that the winged maiden version only came about in the late-17th century and Ó Néill was sailing in 1642. While United Irishmen used green and referred Ireland as the Emerald Isle and green was associated with rebellion, Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill used a green flag in the previous century, so mustn't the origins of the green association go deeper into history?
From Wikipedia: The first association of the colour green with Ireland is from a legend in the 11th century Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland). It tells of Goídel Glas (Goídel the green), the eponymous ancestor of the Gaels and creator of the Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx). Goídel is bitten by a venomous snake but saved from death by Moses placing his staff on the snakebite, leaving him with a green mark. His descendants settle in Ireland, a land free of snakes. One of the first, Íth, visits Ireland after climbing the Tower of Hercules and being captivated by the sight of a beautiful green island in the distance.
Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill never used the winged Maiden, the Winged Maiden, from what I understand was invented by king james period, it was just a plain harp on a green background.
I love the harp flags, so much more original than tricolors. Fun fact 'cruit' is an early Irish word for a harp and the phrase "cruit cen chéis" means a harp without a plectrum (or maybe strings, no one is sure) and means something useless.
thanks for taking the time to learn how to pronounce some for the terms used in this video, you sound more fluent than I do. the change of blue to Green is rather simple Irish Colour Blue: Royal Irish Colour Green: Rebel in 1916, the Irish tri-colour was the flag used by the Original Sinn Fein (ourselves), the British wrongly report that Sinn Fein had been one of the guide hands of the upraising- at one point a Group of IRB plant the Tri-colour on a building that have been abandoned during the fight, and a British Gunboat started to shell said building (they thought it was the GPO) which were the idea is believed to come form. And because of the British reaction to the easter Raising (shooting a Irish tied to a chair because he could stand), public opinion switched to the Rebels and Sinn Fein (who weren't even involved in the raising ) nitpick 1922 the Irish Free State is formed as Dominion of the British Emprie 1936: the Irish free State declares itself independent and renames itself to Ireland 1948: the UK recognize Irish independence and started to referring to the Ireland as Eire or the Republic of Ireland when dealing with it - there was an instance during the Signing of the founding Document of the Council of Europe, where the British representative wanted Ireland to be denoted as the republic of Ireland not Ireland, the Irish representative refused and the other nations backed Ireland.
An excellent video I've now subscribed to the channel! The only criticism would be that it would have been more impactful to have presented it from the Irish viewpoint rather than a slightly English stance. Thanks for a good effort!!
Foot note: The troubles in Ireland started again in 1969 when the RUC police removed an Irish tricolour from a shop in Belfast because it was illegal to fly the tricolour.
Thanks for that vid. Very informative even for an Irish man.! Always thought the tricolour was from the Easter up rising. But no it had a much older history.💚🇮🇪☘
@@danielcarthy9250 Better solution: Abstractify the harp to simplify the flag. Flags are meant to be simple. Remove the detail and keep the core essence.
This is a really good presentation but I must point out things in it that I believe are incorrect. The United Irishmen were an amalgam of Catholics and Protestants and not just led by a Protestant. The difference being that the Protestants were deserters who were also discriminated against like the Catholics were. Only Anglicans were not discriminated against. The next one I'm not so sure of but I believe that Sinn Fein didn't support the 1916 Rising
Sin Féín didn't support the rising but it was called the Sin Féín rising colloquially and they were credited with starting the rising and their members were interned, they were also very active opposing conscription in Ireland. Their leader Arthur Griffith wanted a dual monarchy system like the Austro-Hungarian empire however after those interned were released with many joining the party in order to use it to aid in achieving independence and with the public desire for greater independence exacerbated by internment and the execution of most of the leaders of 1916 rising the party began taking a harder stance towards independence.
I know this is a sensitive issue , but I'm genuinely curious to know if there will be any celebrations of 1922 in 2022 in the Republic of Ireland ? It will be the centenary of independence of sorts but also the anniversary of partition. We never marked the 300th anniversary of 1707 in Scotland because it was reckoned to be too provocative. Also it's not that long since my local town in the west of Scotland was all closed up on a Saturday as it hosted a big Orange Walk.
They are Subservient to the Crown of England. They are "Super-Loyal" and wish to be "Subjects of the Crown" rather than "Citizens of a Free Scottish Nation". The Rebels left and fought the Crown for American Independence.
Imagine if history lessons at school were taught based on flags? Can't believe that I had zero Irish, Welsh or Scottish history at school. I only realised that the Union Jack used to not include the St Patrick's Saltire when I watched Pirates of the Caribbean..
Interesting. I'd previously heard that the tricolour was green, white and gold as the first colour was associated with an independent Ireland and the white and gold came from the Catholic Papal flag (the colour being closer to gold than orange).
we often and incorrectly say the flag is green white and gold, even in song. It is as described green white and orange. However on some ceremonial flags there will be a gold tassel or whatever you call it all the way around the flag.
You learn something every day. Thank you. The saltire is the national flag of Scotland and the Lion Rampart the original royal standard. St George's cross is the national flag of England and the three leopards the original royal standard. At the forming of the UK the Union Jack incorporated St Patrick's cross. I have always assumed that the said St Patrick's cross was the national flag of Ireland because of this (and the harp some ancient Irish royal standard). Perhaps you could do another short video to explain the status of St Patrick's cross, historically.
"So raise the Harp of Erin, boys, the flag we all revere, the land of our adoption and the Irish volunteer" It might not be Ireland's flag anymore, but a couple of my friends in the New York National Guard were holding it up in front of the U.S. Capitol last week.
I've not had this conversation directly, but my Irish friends have told me that the flag is not described as green, white, and orange, but rather green, white, and gold. I was surprised, because I'd had the flag explained to me the way you explain it, but I guess in parts of the island that don't currently have a significant population of Protestants to have peace with (the people I've heard this from have been from Munster and south Connacht), they'd rather forget about that part of their history.
Here is a great introduction video about it that's not hijacked by Dutch naysayers who hate Frisians. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rYT_WugMLoY.html
"Cruit" is still used in Scottish Gaelic today, e.g. "cruit-chorda" = "harpsichord". The Gaelic root "cruit" is similar to the English word "create" and is part of words that incorporate that meaning, such as "cruithear", ("creator"). The harp may be so-called because it creates music. It is thought that the aboriginal Irish people originally called themselves, collectively, the "cruithin". This may have meant something like "those created [by a god]" or more simply, "people". Interestingly, the first foreigner to record a visit to Great Britain, Pytheas of Massalia, stated that the name of the islands was the "Pretanikai" Islands, and the natives told him they were "Pretani", which is just the P-Celtic equivalent of "Cruithin"! So it is from Pytheas' Greek rendering of the P-Celtic words that we have "Briton", "Britain", and "Brittanic". However, when the Irish Gaels came to Scotland centuries later, they were using the word "Cruithneach" to mean either "Pict" or "Briton", and this seems to indicate that the word had changed its meaning, and by then it may have meant "stranger" or "foreigner". To complicate matters, "cruithneachd" rather bizarrely means "wheat", (perhaps from the creation of seed), so that the Irish Gaelic term for a Pict may instead have come from the fact that some Britons grew wheat, whereas the Irish (at that stage) did not. If so, the Irish Gaelic newcomers to Scotland were bundling the Picts together with P-Celtic Britons much further south, because there was then no variety of wheat that could grow so far north. Now are you sound asleep? Good!
Nice video. Some thoughts on the harp; You didn’t comment much on the role of harp in Irish music and cultural heritage. While harp and drum are part so are the pipes. They share the latter with Scotland, though each culture has different forms of pipes. The harp is ancient, derived from the lyre of antiquity, a distant cousin to both guitar, violin and other string instruments. Music is a core feature of Irish culture much enjoyed by all.
Well the Irish bagpipes were arguably identical to the Scottish bagpipes, but became extinct due to British occupation during the Tudor period. Interestingly enough the Irish were the first to use the bagpipes in battle not the scottish. The bagpipes were more associated with Ireland than Scotland back then, but the bagpipes are a Arabic invention go figure.
@@ronaldfreeman1787 Yes i agree, you can drive in and walk straight up to it for free, i touched it but alas, Níor chlóis mé é ag caoineadh. I did not hear it crying. Actually the entire area is full of unexcavated ancient sites that anyone could walk into.
At about 9 minutes when mentioning the French revolution(s) you used "La liberté guidant le peuple ", it is a bit anachronistic because depicting the revolution of the "trois glorieuses" aka the revolution of 1830. No big deal but you know, wrong révolution, sorry we have so many
I think it's very unlikely that the word Cláirseach entered Ireland as late as the Dal Ríadan period given that it's a key element in Irish folk tales going back much much farther. Also, trying to draw a link between Cruit and Cláirseach is a bit tenuous. Cruit ultimately comes from the British word for the island of Britain: Prydain. In Q-celtic the P becomes replaced with a hard Q (or "c") and we get Crydain. Irish is notorious for knocking the endings off words so it's an easy jump from there to Cryt or Cruit. The word Prydain dates back to at least the third century BC, which was long long long before the Dal Ríada emerged or there was any serious Gaelic colonisation of scotland. The common proposed etymology for Prydain is "Pritani" meaning "painted people," and indeed classical writers do attest the British were fond of prominent tattoos. The word cláirseach seems to relate to clár, meaning an organised work surface, suggesting the original instrument going by that name was more like a lyre.
@@deiniolbythynnwr926 Doubt it, since I'm not a republican. Edit: Plus, if I was just taking an Irish slant, why would I claim the classical image of the Irish harp is a relatively recent import? :P
Absolutely agree with this. Still it's fun to speculate even the more out there theories. Could the harps change in appearence from lyre to what we see now be connected with Christianity in ireland? Maybe not, but why the change from lyre to that style of harp?
@@thenextshenanigantownandth4393 I'm not a luthier or a harp player so I'm not really sure, but I think those kinds of modern harps allow for longer/more strings compared to zither style harps with the strings running across the soundbox.
@@crystalpink6535 The harpsichord flag looks like a stereotype of the Irish, whereas the tricolor tells a whole story of a people. But I'm not Irish, so my idea of "stereotypical" may be off base.
Minor nitpick at 15:49 (I only say this bc I’m writing a dissertation on James Connolly and Sinn Fein lol) A large contingent of those who fought in 1916, notably Connolly and his socialist Irish Citizen Army were vehemently opposed to Sinn Fein due to the fact that they viewed their Catholic sectarianism as playing into the hands of British capitalists. Connolly had spent a great deal of time in the North with the ICA’s founder, James Larkin, organising strikes which transcended religious divides under the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) - this was the organisation out of which the ICA pulled much of its membership. Very minor point overall and a totally understandable assumption to make considering Sinn Féin’s later significance. Great video overall!!
The first piece is "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" by Mozart. The second piece is indeed the "Egmont" overture by Beethoven from the incidental music to the play of that name by Goethe about the Dutch hero who fought against the Spanish. The next piece I do not know. It sounds a bit "folky" and tge one after that is too quiet to identify. Then there's Mendelssohn's Wedding March from the incidental music to Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Does that symbolise the union between Great Britain and Ireland? That's followed by Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" to accompany the rise of Irish nationalism in the 19th century. This dissolves into something more contemporarily popular.
The harp is a banging motif for a country flag, I wish they kept this instead in Ireland today. It can be used as a seamless pattern and it screams of pride. I'm sure the Protestants could fit in there somewhere.
Ireland wasn't a fully independent Republic until 1949, until then The Irish Freestate as it was called, was a dominion of the British Empire and while had huge amounts of freedom, was still a subject to the King of Britian.
Big mistake regarding the word cruit. It is not the root to mean the Picts. The true root is Cruithean which means "wheat growers". Cruit is a different word meaning "hunch back" and the harp has a crooked back. The Harp/Clársach was a large instrument while the Cruit was a smaller version. The harp on the blue ground represented the government while the green version was 'of the people'.
Permit me to make a correction. At 11:10 James II is described as pro catholic and a 'closet Catholic'. In fact James was already an out of the closet catholic when he became King on the death of his brother Charles II. This did not please the English or Scottish but they figured that as James had no male heir, when he died the crown would pass to his protestant daughter Mary by his first wife who was married to William of Orange. But then James had a son by his second wife and a Catholic dynasty look likely. In fact a rumour was put about that the baby was not James' but had been smuggled into the queen's bedroom in a warming pan. So in order to secure a protestant succession, Mary and William were invited to become joint rulers and William landed in England with a Dutch army. This was the glorious revolution of 1688. James II fled England but later raised an army in Ireland which was defeated by William III at the battle of the Boyne. When Mary died William ruled alone until his death. William and Mary had no heirs. so the crown passed to Mary's younger sister Queen Anne. She had no surviving heirs so on her death, the crown passed to the George I of Hanover who was a descendent of the Stuarts. At this point, James II son, recognised as James III by some catholic countries and known to history as the Old Pretender landed in Scotland where the Stuart dynasty was popular and tried to reclaim the throne in a failed rebellion in 1715. His son, Charles, Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Young Pretender led another rebellion in 1745 which ended in defeat at Culloden. Thus he was never Charles III, and that title is now held by a member of the the House of Windsor.
No mention of the actual copying of the FRENCH TRICOLOUR of the French Revolution 1789-94? This is the most important point of the "Tricolore" which was thought up by the French Revolutionary left and is the original Tricolour. Red and blue were the traditional colours of Paris and used extensively during the Revolution but General Lafayette added the white,which represented the Bourbon Dynasty,hence the three Colours. This flag,whether Belgian,French,lrish or Italian is representative of one thing. A LEFT WING Country,a Republic and a Country bereft of a Monarchy. If you see a Tricolour,you are in a left wing or Socialist Country. Yes the Irish went with the Orange=Protestant, Green=Catholic Nationalist with white for peace thing but don't be fooled,it's based on French Marxist/Socialist/Commie thinking. The harp was a much more elegant and beautiful flag.
