The flag of

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

(, ) is red with a white Nordic cross, which means that the cross extends to the edges of the

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

and that the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side. A banner with a white-on-red cross is attested as having been used by the kings of Denmark since the 14th century."Dannebrog" by Hans Christian Bjerg, p.12, . An origin legend with considerable impact on Danish national historiography connects the introduction of the flag to the Battle of Lindanise of 1219. The elongated Nordic cross, which represents

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, reflects its use as a maritime flag in the 18th century. The flag became popular as a

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and national symbol, symbolizes a given nation. It is Fly (flag), flown by the government of that nation, but can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanin ...

in the early 16th century. Its private use was outlawed in 1834 but again permitted by a regulation of 1854. The flag holds the

Guinness world record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

of being the oldest continuously used national flag, that is since 1625.

Description

A 1748 regulation, which is still in force, defines the flag as constructed of two squares of , with a white cross the height of the flag and the two rectangular fields as . Multiplying the proportions by three to get whole numbers gives the proportions in the construction sheet below (28 divided by 4 being 7 for the white cross).

Colour

No official definition of "Dannebrog rød" exists. The private company ''Dansk Standard'', regulation number 359 (2005), defines the red colour of the flag as

Pantone Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is an American limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, and best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color order system used in a variety of industries, notably gr ...

186c.

Construction sheet

History

1219 origin legend

A tradition recorded in the 16th century traces the origin of the flag to the campaigns of

Valdemar II of Denmark Valdemar II Valdemarsen (28 June 1170 – 28 March 1241), later remembered as Valdemar the Victorious () and Valdemar the Conqueror, was King of Denmark from 1202 until his death in 1241. In 1207, Valdemar invaded and conquered Bishopric of L� ...

(r. 1202–1241). The oldest of them is in Christiern Pedersen's ''Danske Krønike'', which is a sequel to

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author ...

's , which was written in 1520 to 1523. Here, the flag falls from the sky during one of Valdemar's military campaigns overseas. Pedersen also states that the very same flag was taken into exile by

Eric of Pomerania Erik of Pomerania ( 1381/1382 – 24 September 1459) ruled over the Kalmar Union from 1396 until 1439. He was initially co-ruler with his great-aunt Margaret I of Denmark, Margaret I until her death in 1412. Erik is known as Erik III as King of ...

in 1440. The second source is the writing of the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friar Petrus Olai (Peder Olsen) of

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 53,354 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

(died ). This record describes a battle in 1208 near Fellin during the Estonia campaign of King Valdemar II. The Danes were all but defeated when a lamb-skin banner depicting a white cross fell from the sky and miraculously led to a Danish victory. In a third account, also by Petrus Olai, in ''Danmarks Tolv Herligheder'' ("Twelve Splendours of Denmark"), in splendour number nine, the same story is retold almost verbatim, with a paragraph inserted correcting the year to 1219. Now, the flag is falling from the sky in the Battle of Lindanise, also known as the Battle of Valdemar (Danish: ''Volmerslaget''), near Lindanise (Tallinn) in

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, of 15 June 1219. It is this third account that has been the most influential, and some historians have treated it as the primary account taken from a (lost) source dating to the first half of the 15th century. In Olai's account, the battle was going badly, and defeat seemed imminent. However the Danish bishop, Anders Sunesen, was on top of a hill overlooking the battle and prayed to God with his arms raised. The Danes moved closer to victory as prayed. When he raised his arms, the Danes surged forward, but when his arms grew tired, and he let them fall, the Estonians turned the Danes back. Attendants rushed forward to raise his arms once again, and the Danes again surged forward, but for a second time he grew so tired that he dropped his arms, and the Danes again lost the advantage and became closer to defeat. He needed two soldiers to keep his hands up (a story almost identical to the battle described in Exodus 17:11-12). When the Danes were about to lose, the ''Dannebrog'' miraculously fell from the sky. The King took it and showed it to the troops, their hearts were filled with courage, and the Danes won the battle. The possible historical nucleus behind this origin legend was extensively discussed by Danish historians in the 19th to 20th centuries. One such example is Adolf Ditlev Jørgensen, who argued that Bishop Theoderich was the original instigator of the 1218 inquiry from Bishop Albert of Buxhoeveden to King Valdemar II which led to the Danish participation in the Baltic crusades. Jørgensen speculates that Bishop Theoderich might have carried the Knight Hospitaller's banner in the 1219 battle and that "the enemy thought this was the King's symbol and mistakenly stormed Bishop Theoderich tent. He claims that the origin of the legend of the falling flag comes from this confusion in the battle". The Danish church-historian L. P. Fabricius (1934) ascribes the origin to the 1208 Battle of Fellin, not the Battle of Lindanise in 1219, based on the earliest source available about the story. Fabricius speculated that it might have been Archbishop Andreas Sunesøn's personal ecclesiastical banner or perhaps even the flag of Archbishop

Absalon Absalon (21 March 1201) was a Danish statesman and prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of Roskilde from 1158 to 1192 and archbishop of Lund from 1178 until his death. He was the foremost politician and church father of De ...

under whose initiative and supervision several smaller crusades had already been conducted in Estonia. The banner would then already be known in Estonia. Fabricius repeats Jørgensen's idea about the flag being planted in front of Bishop Theodorik's tent, which the enemy mistakenly attacked believing it to be the tent of the King. A different theory is briefly discussed by Fabricius and elaborated more by Helge Bruhn (1949). Bruhn interprets the story in the context of the widespread tradition of the miraculous appearance of crosses in the sky in Christian legend, specifically comparing such an event attributed to a battle of 10 September 1217 near Alcazar in which it is said that a golden cross on white appeared in the sky and brought victory to the Christians. In Swedish national historiography of the 18th century, there is a tale paralleling the Danish legend, in which a golden cross appears in the blue sky during a Swedish battle in Finland in 1157.

Middle Ages

The white-on-red cross emblem originates in the age of the

Crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

s. In the 12th century, it was also used as

war flag A war ensign, also known as a military flag, battle flag, or standard, is a variant of a national flag for use by a country's military forces when on land. The nautical equivalent is a naval ensign. Under the strictest sense of the term, few co ...

by the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. In the '' Gelre Armorial'', dated 1340–1370, such a banner is shown alongside the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of the

king of Denmark The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional political system, institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous administrative division, autonomous territories of the Faroe Is ...

. This is the earliest known undisputed colour rendering of the Dannebrog. About the same time,

Valdemar IV of Denmark Valdemar IV Atterdag, Valdemar Christoffersen or Waldemar (24 October 1375) was King of Denmark from 1340 to 1375. He is mostly known for his reunion of Denmark after the bankruptcy and mortgaging of the country to finance wars under previous rul ...

displays a cross in his coat of arms on his ''Danælog'' seal (''Rettertingsseglet'', dated 1356). The image from the Armorial Gelre is nearly identical to an image found in a 15th-century coat of arms book now located in the

National Archives of Sweden The National Archives of Sweden (, RA) is the official archive of the Swedish government and is responsible for the management of records from Sweden's public authorities. Although the archives functions primarily as the government archive, it al ...

(''Riksarkivet''). The seal of

(1398) as king of the

Kalmar Union The Kalmar Union was a personal union in Scandinavia, agreed at Kalmar in Sweden as designed by Queen Margaret I of Denmark, Margaret of Denmark. From 1397 to 1523, it joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden (then in ...

displays the arms of Denmark's chief dexter, three lions. In this version, the lions hold a Dannebrog banner. File:War flag of the Holy Roman Empire (1200-1350).svg, Reichssturmfahne of the

File:Royal Banner of Denmark (14th Century).svg, FIAV historical

The royal banner of the kings of Denmark based on the royal coat of arms File:Erikafpommernsdanskeunionssegl.jpg, Seal of

as king of the

Kalmar union The Kalmar Union was a personal union in Scandinavia, agreed at Kalmar in Sweden as designed by Queen Margaret I of Denmark, Margaret of Denmark. From 1397 to 1523, it joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden (then in ...

, 1398. A small Dannebrog banner is depicted as held by the three Danish lions in the top-left corner. The reason that the kings of Denmark in the 14th century began displaying the cross banner in their coats of arms is unknown. Caspar Paludan-Müller (1873) suggested that it may reflect a banner sent by the pope to support the king during the

Livonian Crusade The Livonian crusade consists of the various military Crusade, Christianisation campaigns in medieval Livonia – modern Latvia and Estonia – during the Pope, Papal-sanctioned Northern Crusades in the 12th–13th century. Overview Historic ...

. Adolf Ditlev Jørgensen (1875) identifies the banner as that of the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

, an order that had a presence in Denmark from the later 12th century.Adolf Ditlev Jørgensen, ''Danebroges Oprindelse'' (1875) Several coins, seals and images exist, both foreign and domestic, from the 13th to the 15th centuries and even earlier and show similar heraldic designs similar, alongside the royal coat of arms (three blue lions on a golden shield.) Saxo Chr P front version 002

There is a record suggesting that the Danish Army had a "chief banner" (''hoffuitbanner'') in the early 16th century. Such a banner is mentioned in 1570 by Niels Hemmingsøn in the context of a 1520 battle between Danes and Swedes near

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

as nearly captured by the Swedes but saved by the heroic actions of the banner-carrier Mogens Gyldenstierne and

Peder Skram Peder Skram (died 11 July 1581) was a Danish naval officer. Biography Skram was born between 1491 and 1503, on his father's estate at Urup, Denmark, Urup near Horsens in Jutland, Denmark. He participated in military service during the Swedis ...

. The legend attributing the miraculous origin of the flag to the campaigns of

(r. 1202-1241) was recorded by Christiern Pedersen and Petrus Olai in the 1520s. Hans Svaning's ''History of King Hans'' from 1558 to 1559 and

Johan Rantzau Johan Rantzau (12 November 1492 – 12 December 1565) was a German- Danish field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the hi ...

's ''History about the Last

Dithmarschen Dithmarschen (, ; archaic English: ''Ditmarsh''; ; ) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Flensburg, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, and Steinburg, by the ...

War'', from 1569, record the further fate of the Danish ''hoffuitbanner'': According to the tradition, the original flag from the Battle of Lindanise was used in the small campaign of 1500, when King Hans tried to conquer

(in western

Holstein Holstein (; ; ; ; ) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider (river), Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost States of Germany, state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (; 8 ...

in northern

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

). The flag was lost in a devastating defeat at the Battle of Hemmingstedt, on 17 February 1500. In 1559, King Frederik II recaptured it during his own

campaign. In 1576, the son of Johan Rantzau, Henrik Rantzau, also writes about the war and the fate of the flag, noting that the flag was in a poor condition when returned. He records that the flag after its return to Denmark was placed in the cathedral in Slesvig. Slesvig historian Ulrik Petersen (1656–1735) confirms the presence of such a banner in the cathedral in the early 17th century and records that it had crumbled away by about 1660. Contemporary records describing the battle of Hemmingstedt make no reference to the loss of the original Dannebrog, although the capitulation state that all Danish banners lost in 1500 was to be returned. In a letter dated 22 February 1500 to Oluf Stigsøn, King John describes the battle but does not mention the loss of an important flag. In fact, the entire letter gives the impression that the lost battle was of limited importance. In 1598, Neocorus wrote that the banner captured in 1500 was brought to the church in

Wöhrden Wöhrden is a municipality in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north ...

and hung there for the next 59 years until it was returned to the Danes as part of the peace settlement in 1559.

Modern period

Used as a maritime flag since the 16th century, the Dannebrog was introduced as a regimental flag in the Danish army in 1785, and for the militia (landeværn) in 1801. From 1842, it was used as the flag of the entire army.Sven Tito Achen, '' Heraldikkens femten glæder'' (1978), p. 108f. During the first half of the 19th century, in parallel to the development of

Romantic nationalism Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

in other European countries, the military flag increasingly came to be seen as representing the nation itself. Poems of the period invoking the ''Dannebrog'' were written by B.S. Ingemann, N.F.S. Grundtvig, Oehlenschläger, Chr. Winther and H.C. Andersen. By the 1830s, the military flag had become popular as an unofficial national flag, and its use by private citizens was outlawed in a circular enacted on 7 January 1834. In the national enthusiasm sparked by the

First Schleswig War The First Schleswig War (), also known as the Schleswig-Holstein uprising () and the Three Years' War (), was a military conflict in southern Denmark and northern Germany rooted in the Schleswig–Holstein question: who should control the Du ...

from 1848 to 1850, the flag was still very widely displayed, and the prohibition of private use was repealed in a regulation of 7 July 1854 that for the first time allowed Danish citizens to display the Dannebrog (but not the swallow-tailed ''Splitflag'' variant. Special permission to use the ''Splitflag'' was given to individual institutions and private companies, especially after 1870. In 1886, the war ministry introduced a regulation indicating that the flag should be flown from military buildings on thirteen specified days, including royal birthdays, the date of the signing of the Constitution of 5 June 1849 and days of remembrance for military battles. In 1913, the naval ministry issued its own list of flag days. On 10 April 1915, the hoisting of any other flag on Danish soil was prohibited. The prohibition was lifted on 24 June 2023, after a Supreme Court ruling. From 1939 to 2012, the yearbook ''Hvem-Hvad-Hvor'' included a list of flag days. As of 2019, flag days can be viewed at th
"Ministry of Justice (Justitsministeriet)"
as well a
"The Denmark Society (Danmarks-Samfundet)"

Variants

Maritime flag and corresponding Kingdom flag

The size and shape of the

civil ensign A civil ensign is an ensign (maritime flag) used by civilian vessels to denote their nationality. It can be the same or different from the state ensign and the naval ensign (or war ensign). It is also known as the merchant ensign or merchant flag ...

(''Koffardiflaget'') for merchant ships is given in the regulation of 11 June 1748, which says: "A red flag with a white cross with no split end. The white cross must be of the flag's height. The two first fields must be square in form and the two outer fields must be lengths of those". The proportions are thus: 3:1:3 vertically and 3:1:4.5 horizontally. This definition are the absolute proportions for the Danish national flag to this day, for both the civil version of the flag (''Stutflaget''), as well as the merchant flag (''Handelsflaget''). The civil flag and the merchant flag are identical in colour and design. A regulation passed in 1758 required Danish ships sailing in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

to carry the

royal cypher In modern heraldry, a royal cypher is a monogram or monogram-like device of a country's reigning Monarch, sovereign, typically consisting of the initials of the monarch's name and title, sometimes interwoven and often surmounted by a Crown (heral ...

in the center of the flag to distinguish them from Maltese ships because of its similarity of the flag of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. According to the regulation of 11 June 1748, the colour was simply red, which is common known today as "Dannebrog rød" ("Dannebrog red"). The only red fabric dye then available was made of madder root, which can be processed to produce a brilliant red dye and was used historically for British and Danish and soldiers' jackets. A regulation of 4 May 1927 once again stated that Danish merchant ships had to fly flags according to the regulation of 1748. The first regulation regarding the ''Splitflag'' dates from 27 March 1630, in which King Christian IV ordered that Norwegian ''Defensionskibe'' (armed merchants ships) were allowed to use only the ''Splitflag'' if they were in Danish war service. In 1685, an order was distributed to a number of cities in Slesvig and stated that all ships had to carry the Danish flag, and in 1690, all merchant ships were forbidden to use the ''Splitflag'' except for ships sailing in the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in Eastern world, the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainl ...

, the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

or along the coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. In 1741, it was confirmed that the regulation of 1690 was still very much in effect that merchant ships were not allowed to use the ''Splitflag''. At the same time, the

Danish East India Company The Danish East India Company () refers to two separate Danish-Norwegian chartered company, chartered companies. The first company operated between 1616 and 1650. The second company existed between 1670 and 1729, however, in 1730 it was re-founde ...

was allowed to fly the ''Splitflag'' past the

equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

. Some confusion must have existed regarding the ''Splitflag''. In 1696 the Admiralty, presented the King with a proposal for a standard regulating both size and shape of the ''Splitflag''. In the same year, a royal resolution defined the proportions of the ''Splitflag'', which was called ''Kongeflaget'' (the King's flag), as follows: "The cross must be of the flags height. The two first fields must be square in form with the sides three times the cross width. The two outer fields are rectangular and the length of the square fields. The tails are the length of the flag". Those numbers are still the base for the ''Splitflag'' and the ''Orlogsflag'' though the numbers have been slightly altered. The term ''Orlogsflag'' dates from 1806 and denotes its use in the Danish Navy. From about 1750 to the early 19th century, a number of ships and companies in which the government has interests received approval to use the ''Splitflag''. In the royal resolution of 25 October 1939 for the Danish Navy, it was stated that the ''Orlogsflag'' is a ''Splitflag'' with a deep red (''dybrød'') or madder red (''kraprød'') colour. As for the national flag, no shade was given, but it is now stated as 195U. Furthermore, the size and the shape were corrected in the new resolution: "The cross must be of the flag's height. The two first fields must be square in form with the height of of the flag's height. The two outer fields are rectangular and the length of the square fields. The tails are the length of the rectangular fields". Thus, if compared to the standard of 1696, both the rectangular fields and the tails have decreased in size. The ''Splitflag'' and ''Orlogsflag'' have similar shapes but different sizes and shades of red. Legally, they are two different flags. The ''Splitflag'' is a Danish flag ending in a swallow-tail, it is ''Dannebrog red'' and is used on land. The ''Orlogsflag'' is an elongated ''Splitflag'' with a deeper red colour and is used only at sea. The ''Orlogsflag'' with no markings may be used only by the

Royal Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy (, ) is the Naval warfare, sea-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Denmark, Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and ...

, but there are a few exceptions. A few institutions have been allowed to fly the clean ''Orlogsflag''. The same flag with markings has been approved for a few dozen companies and institutions over the years. Furthermore, the ''Orlogsflag'' is described as such only if it has no additional markings. Any swallow-tail flag, no matter the colour, is called a ''Splitflag'' provided it bears additional markings.

Royal standards

Monarch

The current version of the

royal standard In heraldry and vexillology, a heraldic flag is a flag containing coat of arms, coats of arms, heraldic badges, or other devices used for personal identification. Heraldic flags include banners, standards, pennons and their variants, gonfalons, ...

was introduced on 1 January 2025. after King

Frederik X Frederik X (Frederik André Henrik Christian, ; born 26 May 1968) is King of Denmark. He acceded to the throne following Abdication of Margrethe II, his mother's abdication in 2024. Frederik is the eldest son of Margrethe II and Prince Henri ...

adopted a new version of his personal coat of arms on 20 December 2024. The royal standard is the flag of Denmark with a swallow-tail and charged with the monarch's coat of arms set in a white squared panel. The centre panel is 32 parts in a flag with the ratio 56:107.

Other members of the royal family

File:Standard of Queen Mary of Denmark (2025).svg, Standard of

Queen Mary of Denmark Mary (born Mary Elizabeth Donaldson; 5 February 1972) is Queen of Denmark as the wife of King Frederik X. Mary met Frederik (then Crown Prince of Denmark) while attending the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. They married on 14 May 2004 at ...

File:Standard of the Crown Prince of Denmark (2025).svg, Standard of

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, the Crown Prince of Denmark File:Standard of the Regent of Denmark.svg, Standard of the Regent of Denmark File:Standard of the Royal House of Denmark.svg, Standard of the Royal House that is used by other members of the

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

File:Standard of Frederik the Crown Prince of Denmark at Amalienborg.jpg, Standard of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark (now King Frederik X) flying at

Amalienborg Amalienborg () is the official residence for the Danish royal family and is located in Copenhagen. Frederick VIII's palace complex has four identical Classical façades, effectively four palaces, with Rococo interiors, laid around an octagona ...

Other flags in the Kingdom of Denmark

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

and the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

are autonomous territories* * * * within the Kingdom of Denmark. They have their own official flags. File:Flag of the Faroe Islands.svg, 8:11 Flag of the Faroe Islands File:Flag of Greenland.svg, 2:3 Flag of Greenland Some areas in Denmark have unofficial flags. While they have no legal recognition or regulation, they can be used freely. The regional flags of Bornholm and Ærø are occasionally used by locals of those islands and in tourist-related businesses. The proposal for a flag of Jutland has hardly found any actual use, maybe in part because of its peculiar design.
harteg.dk Bornholms områdeflag afvist The flag of Vendsyssel (Vendelbrog) is seen infrequently, but locals recognise it. According to an article in the newspaper '' Nordjyske'', the flag had been used in the former insignia of Flight Eskadrille 723 of Aalborg Air Base, in the 1980s.

References

General references

Danmarks-Samfundet
– several rules and customs about the use of Dannebrog * ''Dannebrog'', Helga Bruhn, Forlaget Jespersen og Pios, Copenhagen 1949 * ''Danebrog – Danmarks Palladium'', E. D. Lund, Forlaget H. Hagerups, Copenhagen 1919 * ''Dannebrog – Vort Flag'', Lieutenant Colonel Thaulow, Forlaget Codan, Copenhagen 1943 * ''DS 359:2005 'Flagdug, Dansk Standard, 2005

External links

*
Danish flag legendary birthplace in Estonia
{{nationalflags National symbols of Denmark

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