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Swedish Flag




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The flag of Sweden dates back to the 16th Century . It is believed to be inspired by the Coat Of Arms Of Sweden , which feature three yellow crowns on a blue background, and modelled on the Danish flag, the Dannebrog . King John III took the form of the current Swedish flag into use in 1569 . Prior to this, a similar flag appeared in the Coat of Arms of John's duchy, which is today southwest Finland . Two Swedish flags are also deipicted on the coat of arms of the region of Finland Proper .

According to legend the Swedish 12th century king Eric The Holy saw a yellow cross in the sky as he landed in Finland during a crusade around 1157 . Seeing this as a sign from God he supposedly adopted the yellow cross against a blue background as his banner. This legend is however contradicted by the fact that there are no depictions or descriptions of the blue and yellow banner until mid 16th century.

  • According to Swedish Law 1982:269, the dimensions of the flag are 10/16 (height/width), the inner blue fields having 4/5 and the outer blue fields 4/9 (height/width). The yellow cross has a thickness equivalent to half the height of an individual blue field.

  • According to Swedish law 1983:826, the colours used are established through the NCS to be: Yellow - NCS 0580-Y10R, blue - NCS 4055-R95B.


When used from a standalone flagpole, the size of the flag is recommended to have a width equalling a fourth of the height of the pole. When used from a flagpole extending from a building the flag is recommended to have a width equalling a third of the height (length) of the pole.

The war flag and ensign is a triple swallow-tail of proportions 1:2.


TRIVIA

The flag of Wilmington, Delaware , in the United States is modelled after the Swedish flag in remembrance of the short-lived colony of New Sweden .


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