The King has set up home in a modest house in Winchelsea Beach for the summer. Whilst his mother Queen Elizabeth II loved Augusts in Balmoral, spending her summer vacation stalking stags in the Scottish Highlands, and watching grown-up men tossing their cabers, Charles III has opted for the charms of Sussex by the sea.
Or has he?
The Royal Standard has been flying outside a house a few doors down from The Ship for some days now. As all patriots know, the Royal Standard is the monarch’s own personal flag and can only be flown outside or above a property where he is living, or during a short Royal visit when he is in the building or its grounds.
Surely this is a case of flag etiquette gone wrong rather than a new Palace of Winchelsea Beach! Isn’t it?
Image Credits: Andy Stuart .
Flying the Royal Standard when the sovereign is absent is, as you say, a breach of etiquette. A much more common breach is to fly one national flag above another. One sees the flag of Ukraine flying above the Union Flag, which means that Ukraine has been victorious over the UK. Flags are flown from one stand each, unless they signify defeat. A flag at half-mast indicates that death has overcome, its flag being invisible.
Nothing should fly with the Union flag at any time, even the King doesn’t fly it when he flies is own standard.
Maybe it’s time to fly the Falklands flag to remember those who gave their lives for the Falklanders freedom.