Spain - Courtesy flag

Alyssa

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Observed that most Spanish courtesy flags we saw in NW Spain this year had a crown on the central yellow stripe....but some (including ours!) did not (just Horizontal Red/Yellow/Red). Looking at courtesy flags available from UK chandleries, it seems that approx half have the crown...and half do not.

Which is correct??
 
The way I understand it, the one with the crown is the national flag and the one without is the maritime flag. This is the one that should be worn in a similar fashion to foreign flagged vessels visiting the UK should wear a red ensign as a courtesy flag and not the union jack. However, the Spanish are totally unfussed and have none of that irritating flag snobbery!
 
Sounds good but the town halls of the places I visit fly a flag without a crown maybe it just a matter of taste I will enqiure at the tourist office.
 
Both are correct, with the coat of arms it "says" Kingdom (of Spain).

Article 2
1. The flag of Spain, according to what is specified in article four of the Spanish Constitution, is made of three horizontal stripes red, yellow and red, the yellow one being twice as wide as each of the red ones.
2. The yellow stripe may bear the coat-of-arms of Spain in the way which shall be legally approved. The coat-of-arms of Spain shall appear anyway in the flags to which paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the following article refer.

Paragraphs 1 through 4 of article 3 refer to buildings and facilities of the national, autonomous, provincial or island governments and local councils; buildings, ships and planes of the Armed Forces and of the national police corps (National Police and Civil Guard); and buildings and official vehicles of diplomatic and consular missions.

So the (civil) flag of Spain may bear the coat-of-arms whereas the state and war flag must bear it allways. Which is then the correct civil flag? Both.


This
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/es~yacht.html
is the yacht ensign [stripes plus central crown - not the full coat of arms]


http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/es_var.html for loads of detail . . . makes great browsing!
 
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