The Royal Standard of Canada, informally called the Queen's Personal Canadian Flag, is the personal standard, or official flag, of Elizabeth II in her capacity as Queen of Canada. The flag was adopted and proclaimed by the Queen in 1962,[1] and today is part of a larger collection of Canadian royal symbols.
Design
The flag consists of the escutcheon of the Royal Arms of Canada in banner form, defaced with one variant of the Royal Cypher of Queen Elizabeth II: a blue disk with the initial E crowned, all within a wreath of roses, all gold-coloured; this cypher is taken from the Queen's Personal Flag.[2] The standard is protected under the Trade-marks Act; section 9(a) states: "No person shall adopt in connection with a business, as a trade-mark or otherwise, any mark consisting of, or so nearly resembling as to be likely to be mistaken for... the Royal Arms, Crest or Standard."[3]
Use and protocol
The banner is employed only when the Queen is in Canada or is attending an event abroad as the Canadian head of state; for example, the flag has been unfurled at Juno Beach in France when the Queen has been present there for commemorations of the Normandy Landings. The flag must be broken immediately upon the sovereign's arrival and lowered directly after her departure from any building, ship, aircraft, or other space or vehicle.[4] On land, as per Department of National Defence protocol, the Queen's standard must be flown from a flagpole bearing as a pike head the crest of the Canadian Royal Arms.[5] As the monarch is the personification of the Canadian state, her banner also takes precedence above all other flags in Canada, including the national flag and those of the other members of the Canadian Royal Family, and is never flown at half-mast.[4]
No other person may use the flag; the Queen's federal representative, the Governor General, possesses a unique personal flag, as does each of the monarch's provincial viceroys. Flags are kept at the Queen's Canadian residence, Rideau Hall, and supplied to Canadian Heritage royal visit staff by the household staff prior to the Queen's arrival.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Franco, Guida (2006). Canadian Almanac & Directory 2006. Toronto: Micromedia ProQuest. p. 3. ISBN 1-895021-90-1.
- ^ Department of Canadian Heritage. "Ceremonial and Canadian Symbols Promotion > The crown in Canada > The Queen's Personal Canadian Flag". Queen's Printer for Canada. http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/symbl/101/102-eng.cfm#a4. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
- ^ Elizabeth II (1985), Trade-marks Act, 9.1.a, Ottawa: Queen's Printer for Canada, R.S., 1985, c. T-13, http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/showdoc/cs/T-13/bo-ga:s_1::bo-ga:s_2?page=2, retrieved 28 October 2009
- ^ a b c Department of Canadian Heritage. "Ceremonial and Canadian Symbols Promotion > Personal flags and standards". Queen's Printer for Canada. http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/symbl/o7-eng.cfm. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
- ^ Department of National Defence (1 April 1999), The Honours, Flags and Heritage Structure of the Canadian Forces, Ottawa: Queen's Printer for Canada, p. 280, A-AD-200-000/AG-000, http://www.saskd.ca/heritage.pdf, retrieved 30 October 2009
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