British Indian Ocean Territory

Flag of the British Indian Ocean Territory

The British Indian Ocean Territory, or Chagos Islands, consists of 6 atolls making up the Chagos archipelago. The largest island is Diego Garcia, home to a joint UK/US military base.

Originally the islands where colonised by the French, however, they where seized by the British in 1810, and formally ceded over by the French with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The territory was split in 1965, with the Seychelles now being administered separately.  This was to allow the construction of military bases for the benefit of the UK and US. 

In 1976, the islands of Aldabra, Faruquar, and Desroches where returned to the Seychelles as the Seychelles gained its independence from Britain.

The base was very important to Britain, as the US had promised a lot of cash in rent, as well as a big discount in selling the Polaris missile to Britain which would then become the backbone of Britain's nuclear deterrent. 

Before the base could actually be constructed, the island of Diego Garcia needed to be cleared. The British government then bought out the plantations, and forcibly resettled the Chagossians off the island, to the Seychelles, or Mauritius. Ever since then, they have fought for the right to return.

The base itself is on British territory, and as such, has a British garrison at all times, as well as long range patrol craft. However, the base itself houses a massive US military complex for many of its branches of the military. 

Currently, Mauritius claims the territory, a claim that the British do not recognise. However, they have agreed to cede the territory over once its military use has finished. The Seychelles have also launched a territorial claim covering some of the islands in the archipelago.

There is no Governor for the territory, since there is no native population. However, it is governed by a commissioner who is entitled to make laws for the territory under the territory's constitution of 2004. Part of this is that the US has to ask permission for using the territory for any offensive military action.

The islands themselves where declared to be an area of environmental importance, with the British government banning fishing, and any other commercial activity in the seas around the territory, making the largest marine reserve in the world.

The coat of arms for the territory consists of a central shield emblazoned with a palm tree and the crown of Edward, set above 3 wavy lines, representing the ocean. The Union Jack is placed on the top of the shield. The supporters are two sea turtles. A Hawksbill, and a green turtle. The crest is a naval crown, through which rises a red tower topped with the territory's flag.

The flag itself is another unique ensign. It is based on the standard British ensign, featuring the Union Jack in the upper hoist, and in the hoist, features the palm tree and crown taken from the territory's coat of arms. The flag is also not one solid colour, featuring a series of white and blue wavy lines taken from the coat of arms. This flag was awarded to the territory in 1990, on the 25th anniversary of the BIOT.

British Antarctic Territory

Flag of the British Antarctic Territory

Britain has had a presence in the Antarctic region since 1833, when they re-established control over the Falklands, and then, in 1908, Britain extended its claims unilaterally. Now, Britain claimed all territories from the Falklands, and St Georgia islands, down to the South Pole. Between the 20th and 80th degree lines of longitude. This territory was originally governed from the Falklands.

However, the Antarctic treaty in the 1950's was negotiated to demilitarise the Antarctic, and keep it for research purposes only. However, the treaty does not settle territorial claims, leaving that up to the individual nations involved. At the moment, Britain, Norway, France, Australia, and New Zealand all recognise each others claims, with Chile and Argentina disputing Britain's claims, with both nations claiming territory that overlaps with Britain's claim.

With the signing of the treaty, Britain also hived off its southern territories and formed the British Antarctic Territory. This consists of the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands, the Ronne Ice Shelf, parts of Coats Land, and a triangle of the central Antarctic shelf down to the South Pole. 

The Antarctic Territory has 2 permanent research stations, 2 further stations that are manned during the summer, and the historic base of Port Lockroy which is maintained by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, and is visited by about 10,000 people a year who tour the museum, and buy locally issued stamps.

The Territory, as part of its 100 year anniversary, issued its first ever legal tender coin in 2008.

The Territory itself uses the British Ensign as its flag. However, it is unique in using a plain white ensign defaced with the territories coat of arms. The coat of arms themselves consists of a flaming torch on a wavy background representing the sea. The dexter supporter is a lion, representing the United Kingdom, and the sinister supporter is an Emperor penguin, representing the Antarctic territories. The crest is a representation of  RRS Discovery, the ship used by Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton on their first journey to the Antarctic.

The coat of arms where awarded to the territory in 1952, when they where still governed by the Falkland Islands. Also, the coat of arms are two-sided. Whilst the arms themselves "flip" on the reverse of the flag, the arms are modified on the reverse to allow the text to be legible from both sides.

The Bermuda Islands

The flag of Bermuda

The island of Bermuda lies in the north Atlantic, closer to the continent of America than it does to Europe, and was settled by the English in 1612 as a stopping off point for ships heading to the America's. Its capital city, St George's, is the oldest English city in the America's.

The island has developed a very advanced economy based on tourism and finance, giving the islanders one of the highest per capita rates of GDP.

The head of the island is the Queen of the United Kingdom, but political power is exercised by a Prime Minster voted for through universal suffrage. The island is a British Overseas territory, meaning it has autonomy over internal affairs, but the British government is responsible for external affairs.

The islands government has been involved in controversy, as part of its constitution, it is supposed to alert the British government over immigration issues, and any foreign affairs issues are supposed to be handed to London. Unfortunately, the American government negotiated with Bermuda directly, in breach of these agreements, about the settlement of some of the prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. It admitted it had done so behind the back of the British government.

The island is unique amongst British overseas territories in that it uses a red ensign, unlike the others  which use blue.

The coat of arms of the island is a red lion holding a shield depicting a crashed ship. The lion is a symbol of England, representing the islands link, and the ship is the Venture, deliberately crashed on the island to prevent it foundering in a storm.

Anguilla

Flag of Anguilla

Anguilla is an island located in the Caribbean. Anguilla was first settled by English settlers coming from the island of Saint Kitts in 1650, only to fall under French control in 1666, and then returned to English control under the Treaty of Breda.

The island was governed by the English, and later the British until the 19th century, when it was incorporated into a single British dependency with St Kitts, and Nevis. After 2 rebellions in 1967 and 1969, the island declared independence from St Kitts and Nevis, and Britain. Ronald Webster, the self-styled president of the new republic alleged that the officials from St Kitts had misused island funds.

British control was swiftly restored.

Then, in 1980, it became a British overseas territory. The island has responsibility for its own affairs, with foreign affairs, defence, and ultimate governance being handled by the British government. 

The island's coat of arms consists of 3 orange dolphins leaping in a circle over a calm blue sea. The dolphins represent endurance, unity, and strength.

The white represents peace, and the blue represents sea, and hope for the future. 

This symbol has also been used to make an island-specific flag.

Sark

Flag of Sark

Sark as an island was the last feudal state in Europe, finally abolishing that system of government in 2008. This ended a curious political link, where the island was administratively linked to the island of Guernsey. The island itself was governed by a Seigneur who held the title in fiefdom from the Duke of Normandy, the part of France the island is closest to.

However, the Duke of Normandy, thanks to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, is actually the current monarch of England!

The island suffered an invasion during the Second World War, with the Germans taking the island, with 4 killed and 1 captured during Operation Basalt which saw a small British Commando raid for reconnaissance and prisoners.

A second invasion also occurred in 1990, when a French nuclear scientist Andre Guardes launched his own personal invasion of the island armed with a machine gun. He stated that he would launch his attack by noon, and was arrested by the local policeman just before noon!

The island was the last feudal state in Europe, and in order to fall into line with the European Charter on Human Rights, began dismantling its feudal system in 2007, with the first elected chamber sitting after the island first election towards the end of 2008.

The islands flag was formally adopted in 1938 and was designed by Herbert Pitt. The flag itself consists of the  Cross of St George, with the upper hoist canton bearing the arms of Normandy. However, uniquely, the banner bearing the 2 lions of Normandy actually stretches to the bottom of the horizontal red bar, and to the right edge of the vertical red bar.

The States of Jersey

The Flag of the States of Jersey

Originally the island of Jersey was using a plain red saltire as its national flag. 

A long time before its adoption by the Order of St Patrick, and its subsequent use within the Union Jack of the United Kingdom. Its use in Jersey is hidden somewhat in history. One claim is that the FitzGerald family included it as part of their coat of arms, and owned land in Ireland, as well as in Jersey.

Another line is that the flag comes from Normandy. Except that there is very little proof to back up this claim.

A third theory is that during the early wars between England and France, the Channel Islands where granted neutrality by the Pope, and where allowed to trade with both sides. In order to differentiate themselves form the English, and thus preventing attack by the French, Jersey took the English red cross, and rotated it 45 degrees to create a saltire.

Once the Channel Islands formally fell under the British Crown (but not the British Government, apart from ultimate governance issues), the use of the Union Jack grew, and slowly replaced the Jersey Saltire. 

However, the Channel Islands where the only part of the United Kingdoms territory that fell under Nazi Germany occupation. Use of all British imagery was banned, though the island got to keep using its heraldic symbols. The Nazi Swastika flag was flown over the government offices.

During the occupation, the Jersey Saltire grew in use once again, and in the later half of the 20th century, a debate grew up about the flag. One one side, people wanted to keep it as it had been in use by the island for over 300 years, on the other side of the argument, people who wanted to update the flag.

The reasoning behind this desire was that the flag itself was regularly mistaken to represent Northern Ireland, or for one of the international maritime flags in use for signalling. One major idea was to use a banner that used the islands three leopards. 

However, a compromise was reached which saw a modified arms of Jersey surmounted with the Plantagenet crown being placed in the upper quadrant in the centre of the flag. 

The flag was adopted in 1979, proclaimed by the Queen in 1980, and first flown in 1981.

Isle of Man

The Triskelion Flag

The Isle of Man boast the oldest Parliament in the world, with the Tynwald being formed in 979, and sitting continuously ever since. The island is now self governing, but under ultimate governance from the UK government in London. The island is not formally part of the EU, or the Commonwealth, but EU citizens are allowed to live on the island, and the island takes part in the Commonwealth Games by virtue of its relationship with the UK.

The Triskelion emblem traces its roots all the way back to the Celtic Triskele symbol, formed of 3 spirals connected in the centre.

A myth about the Triskelion comes from an ancient legend, when the Manannan (a sea creature) transformed into a wheel of three legs, and repelled an invasion by rolling down the hill.

The flag itself is based on the ancient coat of arms from the last recognized Norse King of the Isle of Man, Magnus III. The flag itself is a simple red banner featuring 3 legs from suits of armour, joined at the top of the thigh, and bent at the knee. The legs run clockwise, and in order to maintain this, a two-sided flag is used.

The Isle of Man placed the symbol on a Red Ensign for Manx ships at sea, only to discontinue the flag in 1935.

The Ensign was then reinstated in 1971!

Herm

Flag of Herm

Herm is one of the smaller islands in the Channel Island group, and is linked to the island of Guernsey for government. The first flag in use for the island was a simple blue banner with the coat of arms of Guernsey placed towards the hoist of the flag.

Then, in 1953, the British vexillologist William Crampton created a new coat of arms for the island. A blue shield with a yellow stripe running diagonally, top left, to bottom right. In the 2 blue halves there are placed 2 white fish. On the yellow stripe are 3 hooded monks.

The flag of Herm took the shield and converted it into banner form, and placed it in the upper hoist of the Cross of St George.

Bailiwick of Guernsey

The Flag of Guernsey

In the 19th century, there are reports about Guernsey using a flag that bears a resemblance to the Royal Navy's Ensign. A red St Georges Cross, with a Union Jack in the upper hoist canton, and the other three cantons being decorated with a blue and white checkerboard pattern.

Following this, the island of Guernsey was granted the ability to fly a new flag in 1936. This was the Red Cross of St George, the same as England. 

This did lead to a lot of confusion, especially during sporting events when Guernsey and England competed under their own flags, such as the Commonwealth Games. So, in 1985, a committee was set up to look into redesigning the flag to make it stand out as different to the flag of England.

The choice the committee settled upon was to place a gold cross over the red cross. This was taken to be from Duke William of Normandy who had been given this symbol by the Pope. And of course, Normandy is the part of France to which Guernsey is closest.

The Red Ensign used by ships registered in Guernsey is the standard Red Ensign, with the Union Jack.

However, it features the gold cross in the fly.

Alderney

The Flag of Alderney

The seal of Alderney came into being in the 19th century, when the Judge on the island wanted to have a seal for the island. The seal that was a yellow crowned rampant lion holding the sprig of Alderney, on a green field. The disc is surrounded with a ring of leaves.

The flag itself was awarded to the island in 1993, when the seal of Alderney was placed in the centre of the red Cross of St George.

Wales

The Red Dragon

The Welsh Red Dragon flag incorporates the Red Dragon of Cadwaladr, King of Gwynedd, and the Tudor colours of green and white. This flag first came into use when Henry VII carried a green and white bicolour banner defaced with the red dragon, in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. It was then carried to St Pauls Cathedral. The Tudors took to using the Red Dragon after the battle to show their Welsh ancestry. The flag was formally adopted as the flag of Wales in 1959.

The earliest known use of the Dragon comes from the Romans, most likely, who brought the Dragon with them when they invaded Britain. The Dragon was used as one of their standards. However, the legend of the Dragon states that 2 dragons fought a long and desperate battle. A white dragon representing the Saxons, and the Red dragon representing the Celts. At first, the white dragon dominated, until the red dragon finally triumphed, leaving the land of Lloegr free and independent. Oddly though, Lloegr translates as "England" during the reign of King Arthur...

This flag is not the only flag to represent Wales, there is also the Cross of St David. This is a cross similar to Englands, but a yellow cross on black. The origins of the flag are somewhat unknown, with one story stating that the Anglican Churches in Wales took to flying a flag over their churches, similar to the churches in England, which flew the English cross. However, they could not fly the English cross since they where in Wales, so they took the colours of St David, yellow and black, and assembled them in the same style as the English cross.

Both flags are very popular, featuring on merchandise, and in life in Wales. The Welsh Dragon has cropped up quite often on stage with the likes of the Manic Street Preachers draping it on stage, and Katherine Jenkins using it as a cape sometimes during her finales.

The St Davids cross grew in prominence with a Cardiff based businessman handing them to football fans in 1998. Since then, the flag has grown in popularity, and has been incorporated into things such as Rugby Superleagues Celtic Crusaders logo:

As well as into Cardiff City's logo when they redesigned it in 2003. (Though, they have since moved back.)

Wales is the only one of the home nations not included in the Union Jack. This comes from the fact that Wales was treated as part of England by the time the Union Jack was created, Wales was not an independent nation. Though the joke goes it is because Wales was not a kingdom, only a principality. Though this is not the real reason! 

Because of its admission from the Union Jack, there have been sporadic pushes to redraw the Union Jack to reflect Wales as well. One simple change would place a small white square in the centre, with the Welsh dragon placed in the centre.

Another one simply places a slimmed version of the St Davids cross inside the Cross of St George.

Another example strips the flag back down to its constituent parts, and redraft it giving 25% to each. One side featuring what looks like the first Union Jack, half of the central cross being the Cross of St George, overlaying the Saltire of Scotland. The other half of the flag sees the central cross switch to being the cross of St David, overlaying the saltire of Ireland.

With Wales debating its own parliament, it looks like the popularity of both flags is set to explode, and its place in the UK to be debated for many, many years!

Scotland

Cross of St Andrew

The flag of Scotland has its origins in one of two stories. 1 is more closely linked to fact, the other, in myth. First of all, the origins of the flag linked to reality.

According the legend, the Apostle St Andrew was crucified on an X shaped cross, deeming that to be crucified on the same cross as Jesus to be too much of an honour. This then began to appear in Scotland from 1180, during the reign of William I. In the 13 century, the St Andrew cross (saltire) cropped up again, being used on seals in Scotland, such as the Guardians of Scotland in 1286. Their great seal bearing an image of the crucifixion of St Andrew.

Finally, in 1385, the Parliament of Scotland decreed that Scottish soldiers should wear a uniform with a simple white cross on a white background front and back for identification purposes.

However, the legend states that King Oengus II led a combined Pict and Celtic army against the advancing Angles led by Aethelstan. He promised that should his army defeat the Angles, thus preserving Scotlands independence, he would make St Andrew the patron saint of Scotland. The following morning, when he woke, he is said to have seen the clouds gathered together in the form of a cross. Taking this to be a sign from God, he led his army to victory, and followed up with his promise to make St Andrew the patron saint of Scotland. He also used a banner based on the image he saw. A white cross on a blue background.

The flag of Scotland has no traditional definition of colour, with some producing a sky blue flag, and others producing a deep blue, close to the shade in use on the Union Jack. The newly formed Scottish Parliament recently took to using flags using the shade Pantone 300, which is is slightly lighter than the shade used by the Union Jack.

The story behind the changing of the colour on the Union Jack, is that whilst the red proved relatively resilient at sea, the blue did not. Also, the light shade of blue did not contrast strongly enough with the red. Therefore the royal Navy took to darkening the blue to allow for a strong contrast, and to afford strong resiliency. This darker shade then went on to be adopted permanently for the Union Jack.

In Scotland, when the Union Jack was unveiled, many felt that the English flag took dominance, even though both are relatively well balanced. However, many took to using an unofficial Scottish Union Jack, where the white cross of Scotland was overlaid on the red cross of England.

The Royal Standard of Scotland is different from the national flag. The Royal Standard, whilst being used commonly by the public, it is officially limited to the Royal family, and members of high office. The Scottish royal standard consists of a red lion rampant, on a yellow field, surrounded by a double border of lilies. 

The banner came into use in Scotland in 1222, and was finally abolished with the union of Scotland and England. The new banner for the monarch usually consists of the 3 lions of England on red in the first and fourth quarters, except when in use in Scotland. In Scotland, the Scottish banner takes precedence, replacing the English banner, and occupying the first and fourth quarters.

This banner is only for the monarchs use in Scotland. Also, when the monarch is not in residence in Scotland, the traditional banner of Scotland is flown. Rather than the Cross of St Andrew. 

Globally, the Cross of St Andrew has inspired many flags, and is used to represent ancient links with Scotland. The most obvious being Nova Scotia, which features an inverse Cross of St Andrew of blue on white, with the old coat of arms of Scotland placed in the centre. 

The city of Sint Oedenrode in the Netherlands also uses a Scottish Saltire. Though in the left quadrant, features a turret and section of wall taken from the city's coat of arms. The city is named for Saint Rode, who was a Scottish princess, who fled to the continent in order to prevent becoming Queen. She had been cured from blindness, and decided to dedicate her life to God.

The city of Kracow in Poland has a coat of arms, a bicolour flag based on the Polish flag, and its banner features the Cross of St Andrews, and defaced with the city's coat of arms. 

The Cross of St Andrew was also in use by the Russian navy before the Communist revolution, where it is known as the Andreyevsky Flag. Following the collapse of the USSR, the Russian Navy reinstituted the old Naval Jack. 

The Cross of St Andrew has spread around the world, and is a mark of Scotland's spirit that their flag can be found in so many places round the world! (Nearly as many as Englands!)