Flag of the Netherlands
The Dutch flag is three horizontal stripes of red, white and blue, red at the top. A royal decree of 1937 fixed those three colours in a single sentence and gives them no meaning.
Easily confused with
- Flag of FranceFrance’s flag is three vertical bands of blue, white and red, blue by the pole. The French presidency says the colours joined the king’s white to the blue and red of the city of Paris during the Revolution.
- Flag of RussiaRussia’s stripes are white, blue and red from the top; the Dutch flag has red at the top.
- Flag of ParaguayParaguay’s flag is red, white and blue in equal horizontal stripes with a round emblem in the centre of the white, and its two sides are different. The front carries the national coat of arms, a yellow star in a wreath of palm and olive inside the words “República del Paraguay”; the back carries the Treasury seal, a lion below a red cap of liberty on a pike with the motto “Paz y Justicia” (Peace and Justice). The newspaper ABC Color writes that the colours came to be read as justice (red), peace (white) and liberty (blue).
- Flag of LuxembourgLuxembourg’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.
- Flag of CroatiaCroatia’s flag has red, white and blue horizontal stripes with the coat of arms in the centre: a shield of 25 red and white squares under a crown of five small historic arms. The flag law gives the colours no meaning; Store norske leksikon notes that red, white and blue were counted as pan-Slavic colours in the 19th century.
- Flag of MissouriMissouri’s flag has red, white and blue horizontal stripes with the state coat of arms in the centre, ringed by a blue band of 24 stars for Missouri as the 24th state. The law gives the colours no meaning; the Secretary of State says the red stands for valour, the white for purity and the blue for vigilance, permanency and justice.
How to read it
Queen Wilhelmina signed the decree on 19 February 1937 at her holiday address in Zell am See, at the request of Prime Minister Colijn. It reads, in full, that the colours of the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are red, white and blue, and the broadcaster MAX Vandaag calls it the shortest royal decree ever. It ended a quarrel of the 1930s over whether the top stripe should be orange again. The Netherlands has no law on how the flag is used: the government’s flag instruction, drawn up by the prime minister (the current one dates from 2013), covers central government buildings, and citizens, companies and organisations may follow it as a guide.
Also searched as: dutch flag, dutch flag meaning, flag of the netherlands, holland flag, netherlands flag, netherlands flag meaning.
Orange, white and blue: the Prince’s flag
The earlier flag was orange, white and blue: the Prince’s flag (Prinsenvlag). MAX Vandaag says the blue and white probably came from the house colours of the Prince of Orange, with orange added in his honour. The rebels known as the Beggars (geuzen) carried banners of orange, white and blue at the taking of Gouda in June 1572, and in 1587 the Admiralty of Zeeland ordered flags of orange, white and blue for its warships. The orange turned to red during the First Stadtholderless Period after 1650. Why is unclear: feeling against the House of Orange and the lack of an orange dye have both been put forward. The red, white and blue flag was called the States flag (Statenvlag). Around 1780 the top stripe became a political fight, with the Prince’s supporters wanting orange and the Patriots red.
The orange pennant
On King’s Day and on the birthdays of Queen Máxima, Princess Beatrix and the Princess of Orange, central government buildings fly the flag with an orange pennant, the government says.
Telling it from the Luxembourg, French and Russian flags
Luxembourg’s flag has the same red, white and blue stripes. To tell the two apart, the Luxembourg government says, its blue is a sky blue (Pantone 299C), where the Dutch blue is ultramarine. The French flag has the same colours in vertical bands, blue at the pole: the Élysée says France chose vertical bands in 1790 to tell its naval flag from the Dutch one. The Russian flag is horizontal too, but white, blue and red from the top.
Read next
- Next in European flagsFlag of GermanyGermany’s flag is three horizontal stripes of black, red and gold, black at the top. The Basic Law fixes only the colours and gives them no meaning; the Bundestag calls them the colours of the movement for unity and freedom and of the first German republic.
- 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
- Koningin Wilhelmina bepaalt de kleuren van de Nederlandse vlag op 19 februari 1937, MAX Vandaag (Omroep MAX), February 2022, Omroep MAX, Whole article
- Wanneer kan ik de Nederlandse vlag uithangen?, Rijksoverheid.nl, vraag en antwoord (Grondwet en Statuut), Ministerie van Algemene Zaken (Rijksoverheid), Whole page
- 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, “Drapeau luxembourgeois”
- Le drapeau français, Présidence de la République, “Les symboles”, updated 14 December 2022, Présidence de la République (Élysée), “Un peu d’histoire”
- Государственный флаг Российской Федерации, Государственные символы России, flag.kremlin.ru, Президент России (Kremlin), Описание
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
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