|
In 1569 a royal warrant, issued by King John III of Sweden, decreed that a yellow cross should always appear on all Swedish battle flags.
The earliest recorded images of the Swedish flag date from the 16th century, with evidence from the 1620s showing a blue flag featuring a yellow cross being used by Swedish ships.
In 1663, a flag warrant set out the design of the flag. It specified that a blue field charged with a yellow cross in a rectangular shape was to be used by merchant shipping and a triple-tailed design was for everybody else.
Today, only the Swedish Royal Family or the armed services are allowed to use the triple-tailed design.
From 1814 until 1906, Sweden forged a union with Norway and placed an
emblem representing the union in the upper hoist (upper left corner)
of their blue and yellow flag.
A referendum held in Norway in 1905 voted to end the Sweden-Norway union, which led to the
removal of the union's emblem from the Swedish flag and to the adoption of the current
flag design on the 22nd of June 1906. |
|
The design of the Swedish flag is probably based on the national flag of Denmark and the yellow and blue are most likely derived from the Swedish Coat of Arms.
The cross, common to most Scandinavian flags, symbolises Sweden’s hereditary link to other Scandinavian countries |
