Flag of Orkney

Flag of Orkney

The new official [http://www.orcadian.co.uk/archive/2007/archive26.htm The Orcadian] ] Orkney Community Flag was the winner of a public flag consultation [http://www.orkney.gov.uk/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=6645&tt=orkneyv2 Orkney Islands Council] ] in February and March 2007. In the flag consultation the people of Orkney were asked for their preferred design from a short list of 5 [http://www.orkney.gov.uk/media/chief_executive/images/Flag_consultation.pdf Orkney Islands Council] ] , all of which had been approved by the Court of the Lord Lyon. The chosen design was that of Duncan Tullock of Birsay, which polled 53% of the only 200 votes cast by the public. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/6541099.stm BBC News] ] The colours red and yellow are from the Scottish and Norwegian Royal coats of arms, which both use yellow and red, with a rampant lion. The flag symbolises the islands' Scottish and Norwegian heritage. The blue is taken from the flag of Scotland and also represents the sea and the maritime heritage of the islands.

The new flag resembles the flags of Norway (white for yellow) and Åland (colours reversed). The issue of the supposed similarity with the flag of the Norwegian fascist Vidkun Quisling's party Nasjonal Samling [ [http://www.atlasgeo.net/fotw/flags/no%7Dns.html Flags of the World article with illustration of the NS flag] ] was raised in The Orcadian in May 2007. [ [http://www.scotsheraldry.com/?p=75 Scots Heraldry] ] That flag did however not include the blue cross, which make the two easily distinguishable. It should also be noted that a red-yellow flag was, and still is, used by people in Skåneland years before Nasjonal Samling used a red-yellow Cross Flag. A red-yellow Cross Flag is also used by Swedish-Finns.

Former Flag of Orkney

The previous though unofficial flag of Orkney was that created in the mid-1990s and attributed to St Magnus, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/6541099.stm BBC News] .] a yellow field with a red Nordic cross. St Magnus (Magnus Erlendsson) was Earl of Orkney from 1108 to 1117. However, there is nothing to connect him to the red cross on yellow, this being an attribution of our day. This flag has no official status, having been declined recognition by the Lord Lyon, the heraldic authority of Scotland, due to similarity with the Arms of Ulster (themselves adopted from the Arms of John de Courcy). A similar flag is also sometimes said to be flown by Finland-Swedes, but this flag has the opposite colours: Yellow cross on red. Historically, the red cross on yellow is likely the flag of the Kalmar Union (a Medieval Scandinavian state that Orkney was a part of).

References

ee also

*Nordic Cross Flag
*Royal Standard of Scotland
*Royal Standard of Norway
*Flag of Norway
*Flag of Åland
*List of Scottish flags
*List of British flags


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