Standard of William and Mary

By Crusader1307

Designed and flown from 1689 until 1701, The Royal Standard of England was redesigned for the reign of King William and Queen Mary of England. It was also the last "Personal Standard" used to identify The Monarchy before Parliament authorized the creation of The Union Jack Flag in 1701-02.

Designed to reflect The Kingdom possessions of English Royalty (both actual and hereditary). The Standard was quite complicated in design. First quartered into 4 Cantons, in the Upper Left and Lower Right Cantons, were placed and additional set of 4 quarters. In the 2nd Upper Left and Lower Right set, was placed a Blue Field with Golden Flur-de-Lys. This represented The Kingdom of France. In the Upper Right and Lower Left 2nd Cantons, was placed the Red Field with 3 Golden outstretched Lions of The Wessex Flag (original Colors of The Monarchy since the 10th Century AD).

On the principle Flag Field, the remaining Upper Right Canton bore The Standard of Scottish Royalty. This was a Gold Field with outstretched Red Lion, bordered in Red as well. The Lower Left Canton held a Field of Blue with a Golden Lyre (representative of Ireland). Finally, centered in the Standard to bisect all Cantons was The Seal of William and Mary. This was portrayed as a Blue Shield with a raised Golden Lion, surmounted with Golden horizontal Bars.