Last modified: 2001-06-01 by ivan sache
Keywords: oldenburg | royal standard | crown prince | crown: royal | coat of arms | stockfish |
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by Santiago Dotor
"The last King of Greece, Constantine II, has lived abroad since 1967. His personal standard is like the [pre-1978, white-cross-on-blue] National Flag, but with a large shield of the royal arms in the centre, ensigned with the Greek crown, an a small crown in each canton. The shield of arms is the same as previously used in Denmark: King Constantine is the great-grandson of Prince George of Denmark who became King of Greece in 1863." (Barraclough & Crampton, 1981) [bcr81]
Flaggenbuch [neu92] shows the King's standard matching that description and illustration. A square blue flag, bearing a white cross with arms one-fifth as wide as the flag. The shield (without the crown) is centred on the flag, its approximate width being 4/10ths that of the flag, and its height (without the crown and the lower 'tip') 9/20ths. The crown's width is approximately 9/40ths that of the flag, only slightly exceeding that of the cross. The four small crowns are centred on the cantons, and their width is approximately 1/6th that of the flag.
Santiago Dotor, 27 January 2000
by Santiago Dotor
Flaggenbuch [neu92] also shows the Crown Prince's standard, which is identical but with only one of the small crowns in the upper hoist canton.
Santiago Dotor, 27 January 2000
by Santiago Dotor
Flaggenbuch [neu92] also shows the Standard for other members of the Royal Family, with no small crowns.
Santiago Dotor, 27 January 2000
by Santiago Dotor
Flaggenbuch [neu92] finally shows the King's Broad Pennant, which is like this last standard, adding to it a tapering fly which makes the complete pennant have a 1:5 ratio. The width at the fly is approximately 2/5ths that of the hoist, and the cross fly arm does not taper, so that it occupies a half of the widthat the fly.
Santiago Dotor, 27 January 2000
About the above mentioned former Danish arms, Barraclough & Crampton [bcr81] say: "...on the accession of Queen Margrethe II on 14 January 1972 it was decided to simplify them (...) the white cross fimbriated red which divides [the shield] into quarters has been made curvilinear instead of rectilinear as before."
More detail on the former Danish arms is found in Heraldry of the World [vvb73]: "Up to 1948 Iceland's falcon [white on a blue field, a gold crown over, not on, its head] was also included [in the thrid quarter]. The fourth quarter contains two imaginary charges from the thirteenth century to illustrate the king's suzerainty over the Goths and Wends. The four quarters of the inescutcheon show the king's titles as Duke of Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarschen and Lauenburg. The centre shield contains the family arms of the Oldenburg dinasty, two bars gules on a field or, with Delmenhorst. [Editor's footnote:] On the accession of Queen Margrethe in 1972 the royal achievement was somewhat simplified. The arms for the Goths and Wends in the fourth quarter were eliminated and replaced by Denmark repeated from the first quarter; the two inescutcheons were replaced by a single inescutcheon bearing only the two bars of Oldenburg; and the limbs of the cross were carried to the edges of the shield."
Flaggenbuch [neu92] shows the shield (not the whole achievement of arms) of the Greek and Danish royal standards as being almost identical, the main difference being the Iceland quarter. In Denmark this is shown as a silver falcon on blue, whereas in Greece it is depicted as a white stockfish (a dried cod) with a gold crown on red. The reason is that from the 16th century until 1903, the latter were the arms of Iceland. Since the Greek royal family were (are!) an offspring of the Danish one since 1863, they carried with them the 1863 Danish arms, with the stockfish for Iceland.
Santiago Dotor, 27 January 2000
According to the decree of 4 April 1833, the Royal Naval standard, is of the St.George cross type with the Bavarian arms in lozengy pattern. With the end of Bavarian dynasty in 1862, the Bavarian arms disappeared.
Source: Hellenic flags. Insignia-Emblems. [kok97]
Norman Martin, 1 August 1999
So I guess the same flags as in Flaggenbuch [neu92] existed from 1833 to 1862, with the Bavarian lesser arms (lozengy white and blue) instead of the Danish shield.
Santiago Dotor, 27 January 2000
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