Flag of the Netherlands

Kingdom of the Netherlands

Flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Use	National flag and ensign
Proportion	2:3 (not formalised by law)[1]
Adopted	1575 (first full colour depiction)[2] 1596 (red replacement for orange)[3][4] 1937 (red reaffirmed)[5] 1949 (colours standardised)[6]
Design	A horizontal triband of red (bright vermilion), white, and cobalt blue
Marine Geus or Prinsengeus[7]
Use	Naval jack
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	Late 17th c. (in use)[8] 20 April 1931 (formalised)
Design	12 segments in the national colours of red (bright vermilion), white, and cobalt blue
Royal Standard of the Netherlands
Use	Standard of the Monarch
Proportion	1:1
Adopted	27 August 1908
Design	Orange field divided in four by a nassau-blue cross, showing bugle-horns of the Principality of Orange and the coat of arms of the Kingdom, surrounded by a crown and the insignia of the Military Order of William.

The national flag of the Netherlands (Dutch: de Nederlandse vlag) is a horizontal tricolour of red, white, and blue. The current design originates as a variant of the late 16th century orange-white-blue Prinsenvlag ("Prince's Flag"), evolving in the early 17th century as the red-white-blue Statenvlag ("States Flag"), the naval flag of the States-General of the Dutch Republic, making the Dutch flag the oldest tricolour flag in continuous use.^[9][10][11] As a flag that symbolises the transformation from monarchy to republic, it has inspired both the derivative Russian flag, and after the French Revolution in 1789, the vertically striped French tricolour; both flags in turn influenced many other tricolours.^[11][12] During the economic crisis of the 1930s, the old Prince's Flag with the colour orange gained some popularity among some people. To end the confusion, the colours red, white and blue and its official status as the national flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands were reaffirmed by royal decree on 19 February 1937.^[13]