Problems with French ensign/courtesy flag.

[sarabande]

Apparently the ensign and the national flag of France are different, according to a diplomatic friend.

The national flag has the proportions 33:33:33, and the ensign 30:33:37.

|Post Brexit, will one be cast into the Bastille for flying the wrong one as a courtesy flag.

(Yes, I know about 'wearing ' an ensign, mais je suis pas Francais .

 

[Sandyman]

Fly the Breton ensign & keep them all happy

 

[johnalison]

This site gives the proportions of both as 3:2. http://www.flags.net/FRAN.htm

I don't think it will be the Bastille so much as camping, in Calais.

 

[VicS]

This site gives the proportions of both as 3:2. http://www.flags.net/FRAN.htm

What Sarabande is referring to is the ratios of the widths of the blue white and red bands. Equal in the case of the national flag but in the ratio30:33:37 in the case of the ensign, officialized by a Regulation dated 17 May 1853

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Catalan red and gold stripey flag down this way!

 

[LittleSister]

Post Brexit, will one be cast into the Bastille for flying the wrong one as a courtesy flag.

It could be the only way you'd get into the country at all!

 

[DownWest]

When in Brittany, I fly my French ensign (from the local chandelry) off the end of the boom and the Breton one from the stb hoist (actually the shroud) Seems to keep the locals happy and very sociable )

But not heard about the différences in bandwidth, must check it out before I face le guilliotine. Always a close threat around here...

 

[JumbleDuck]

Apparently the ensign and the national flag of France are different, according to a diplomatic friend.

The national flag has the proportions 33:33:33, and the ensign 30:33:37.

As I recall, that's so that it still appears to have equal rouge, blanc et bleu section when dangling from an inclined flagstaff.

 

[dash300]

Apparently the ensign and the national flag of France are different, according to a diplomatic friend.

The national flag has the proportions 33:33:33, and the ensign 30:33:37.

|Post Brexit, will one be cast into the Bastille for flying the wrong one as a courtesy flag.

(Yes, I know about 'wearing ' an ensign, mais je suis pas Francais .

I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

As far as I know the correct courtesy flag to fly is (with few exceptions) the National Flag and not the Civil Ensign.

 

[Robin]

You see very few that have not worn down and lost a sizeable chunk of the outer stripe. A Dutch skipper once pointed out how much more sensible theirs was as it wore away evenly color band wise, just got a bit shorter.

 

[DJE]

I'm not a needlework expert but I suspect that if you measure both sides of a sewn ensign or courtesy flag you will get different answers because of the overlapping layers of cloth. This effect will probably be more than 4% of the length of a small courtesy flag.

 

[mattonthesea]

I spent a week in France flying the Dutch courtesy flag by accident and no one noticed! I think proportions come way down the priority from 90 degree rotation and country

 

[laika]

A glance at the "courtesy flags" and ensigns used by the French suggests to me that they have a somewhat more relaxed attitude to flag etiquette than les rosbifs, never mind the likes of the Turks.

I acquired a french courtesy flag last year (stripe width unmeasured but at least in the right order). Prior to that no-one seems to have questioned why a westerly would be engaged in pair trawling....

 

[john_q]

You see very few that have not worn down and lost a sizeable chunk of the outer stripe. A Dutch skipper once pointed out how much more sensible theirs was as it wore away evenly color band wise, just got a bit shorter.

I was told the reason the Dutch flag is horizontal stripes is so the Dutch can use the flag all the way up to the flag pole before having to replace it

 

[BelleSerene]

Do you think the regulation has the three colour bands of widths 30: 33: 37 so that when the flag frays you can snip the end off and it still looks in proportion?