Flag of Luxembourg
Luxembourg’s flag is three equal horizontal stripes of red, white and light blue. The flag law gives the colours no meaning; they are the colours of the national arms, a red lion on stripes of silver and blue, used since the 13th century, Store norske leksikon says.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The law of 23 June 1972 on the national emblems, as amended on 27 July 1993, describes the national flag as a cloth in the proportions 5 to 3 or 2 to 1, with three equal bands of red, white and blue arranged horizontally. A grand-ducal regulation of 27 July 1993 fixes the shades: the red is Pantone 032C and the blue Pantone 299C. The same law has a second flag for inland shipping and aviation, the Roude Léiw (red lion): ten stripes of silver and blue with a red lion rampant facing the pole, crowned, armed and langued in gold, its forked tail crossed, in the proportions 7 to 5. The tricolour was first used in 1845, Store norske leksikon says.
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Telling it from the Dutch flag
The Netherlands’ flag has the same red, white and blue horizontal stripes. The Luxembourg government’s guide to the national symbols says the difference was settled in a practical way: the Dutch blue is an ultramarine, Luxembourg’s a sky blue (Pantone 299C). The law also allows a longer flag, two to one, as well as five to three. Store norske leksikon adds that the likeness is a coincidence, because the two flags come from different places: Luxembourg’s colours come from its arms.
The red lion
The arms behind the colours are the small arms in the flag law: ten stripes of silver and blue with a red lion rampant, crowned, armed and langued in gold, its forked tail crossed. The government’s guide says the arms, changed many times, were fixed in 1235 to 1239 for Henri V, Count of Luxembourg. A proposal in 2006 to make the lion flag the national flag as well was turned down by the government in 2007, Store norske leksikon says.
Where this symbol came from
oldsymbols.comLion rampantThe colours come from Luxembourg’s arms, a red lion rampant on stripes of silver and blue.Read next
- Next in European flagsFlag of MonacoMonaco’s flag is two equal horizontal stripes, red above white. The constitution sets the design and gives the colours no meaning; red and white are the colours of the arms of the Grimaldi family, the princely house, Store norske leksikon says.
- The same shape in African flagsFlag of AngolaAngola’s flag is red over black with a yellow emblem in the centre: part of a cogwheel, a machete and a five-pointed star. Its constitution says the red is the blood shed by Angolans under colonial oppression, in the liberation struggle and in defence of the country, and the black is the African continent; the cogwheel stands for workers and industry, the machete for peasants, farming and the armed struggle, the star for international solidarity and progress, and their yellow for the country’s wealth.
More european flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines or squares and rectangles.
Sources
- Mémorial A n° 73 de 1993: emblèmes nationaux, Loi et règlement grand-ducal du 27 juillet 1993 (Luxembourg), Legilux, Service central de législation (Luxembourg), Règlement grand-ducal, art. 1er; texte coordonné, art. 2–4
- À propos des symboles de l’État et de la Nation, Service information et presse du gouvernement luxembourgeois, brochure, Service information et presse du gouvernement luxembourgeois, “Armoiries de l’Etat luxembourgeois”; “Drapeau luxembourgeois”
- Luxembourgs flagg og våpen (Store norske leksikon), Lars Roede, “Luxembourgs flagg og våpen”, Store norske leksikon, Store norske leksikon, Flagget
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
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