A short history of the Union Jack - The flag of the United Kingdom

hi guys how you doing this thing behind me is the union jack also known as the union flag it is without doubt one of the most recognized flags in the world and it is of course the flag of the united kingdom but what do all the elements of the flag mean stay where you are and we'll look at the history and meaning of this iconic flag in just a few seconds [Music] before we get started with the flag let me tell you what the united kingdom is the united kingdom is the union of england wales scotland and northern ireland now we understand that let me tell you how the union jack came into existence in 1603 king james vi of scotland also became the king of england and ireland after queen elizabeth the first had died and he became known as king james the first three years later in 1606 he passed a royal decree to create a flag that would represent this new royal union between england and scotland the flag of england a red cross on a white background known as george's cross and the flag of scotland a white x on a blue background known as saint andrews cross were joined together to form the flag of great britain and so the first union flag let's have a look at the origins of these two crosses and how they came to be used so george's cross has its origins in the 10th century and was actually used widely across northern italy however from the late middle ages it became associated with st george the military saint often depicted as a crusader now we don't really know how the red cross came to england but by the late 13th century it was being worn by english soldiers as an identification it wasn't used as a flag at that time during the 14th century saint george became the patron saint of england and by 1552 all other saints banners had been abolished except that forsen george and as a result he became the symbol of england since andrew's cross has its origins with the martyr of saint andrew the patron saint of scotland although there is no historical evidence it is said that since andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross known as a soul tyre here again the sultai was used as a military symbol to identify scottish soldiers in the 14th century and it is not until 1542 that there is the first confirmed historical use of a white x on a blue background on the flag in scotland the red cross of saint george was placed over the top of the cross of saint andrew to form the new flag some scottish nationalists objected to this and there is evidence of an unofficial scottish variant whereby the scottish cross was on top of the english one but what about the welsh flag where is it represented people often say that wales is not represented separately in the union jack and to understand why we need to return to when queen elizabeth the first was queen of england the laws in wales act of 1534 and 1542 integrated wales into the kingdom of england and the concept of a standardized national flag was not developed for another 60 years so when the cross of saint joss was adopted in 1606 it represented all of england and wales which has continued until today so in 1606 we have this new flag known as the king's colours or the great union flag and it was used initially only on ships at sea it wasn't until the acts of union in 1707 which formerly united england and scotland into the same country great britain that the flag gained status as the ensign of the kingdom of great britain the kingdom of ireland which had existed as a personal union with england since 1541 was not represented in any of the original versions of the union flag on the 1st of january 1801 the act of union merged the kingdom of ireland and the kingdom of great britain to form the united kingdom of great britain and ireland this required a new design and a red sultan the cross of st patrick was added to the union flag to represent ireland saint patrick's cross has rarely been used to represent ireland and many irish nationalists reject this flag as a british invention because it is usually associated with the coat of arms of the powerful fitzgerald family rather than any association with saint patrick himself despite the creation of the free irish state in 1922 the union flag remains unchanged as northern ireland has remained part of the united kingdom if you look closely at the flag it is not symmetrical the flag was deliberately designed with the irish salter slightly depressed at the hoist end in other words the part of the flag closest to the pole to reflect the earlier union with scotland giving saint andrews cross seniority interestingly no law has been passed making the union jack the national flag of the united kingdom it has become that through precedent also according to the uk flag protocol the royal standards take precedence over the union flag which explains why the queen's flag flies over buckingham palace when she is in residence there but the union flag is flown when she goes to one of her other palaces so why do we call it the union jack well to be perfectly honest nobody really knows the most probable explanation comes from when the flag was used solely by ships at sea because a jack is a flag flown from a short flank pole called a jack staff at the bow or the front of a ship as well as being the national flag of the united kingdom the union jack forms part of the national flag of four commonwealth countries australia new zealand fiji and tuvalu it also forms part of the flag of various overseas territories as well as a number of federal provinces and states including the state of hawaii in the united states i only found that out researching this topic and i find it amazing apparently it is a mark of the british empire's historical relations with the hawaiian kingdom particularly with king kamehameha the first i think that's how you pronounce it i'm not sure i'm sorry if i got it wrong in 2014 the scottish people voted to remain part of the united kingdom in their referendum on independence should scotland become independent one day in the future i suppose we will no longer be the united kingdom and the union jack will just be the jack and it will look a little different whatever happens i hope you have found this little bit of british culture interesting hit that like button if you did watch another video while you are here subscribe to my channel if you haven't done so already there's a button just below me here thank you so much for watching you take care and i'll see you in the next one bye for now

Channel: English With Rick

Views: 1,122

Keywords: english language, learn english, advanced english, british english, native speaker, english lesson, english lessons, english grammar, speak fluent english, english vocabulary, history of union jack, union jack, union flag, flag of the United Kingdom, St George's Cross, St Andrew's cross, cross of Saint Patrick, royal standard, british culture, listening practice, english listening practice, flags history, bandera inglesa, bandiera inglese, drapeau anglais

Id: EozsOUfkF1U

Length: 7min 43sec (463 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 02 2021