Miniter's Notebook

"Your item reminds me of something about which I asked my English godmother once, namely why the Union Jack was not flown much. (She only flew it on the Queen's Birthday and the anniversary of VE Day, which commerates the victory of the allies in the European theatre of World War II.) The goodly Hertfordshire lady she was stated that one simply did not show the flag except on military parade, the anniversaries of great military victories, and royal births, marriages or, most importantly, deaths. One did not show it to mark defeats for that would be dishonourable.

If one wanted a flag used at other times, it was a national flag — the Cross of St. George in England, the Saltire of St. Andrew in Scotland, the Harp (on St. Patrick's blue, nor green) or Saltire of St. Patrick in Ireland (red-on-white), the dragon in Wales (incidentally the dragon of Wales does include a wee bit of black, mainly to outline the parts of the dragon), the Fleur-de-Lys in the Channel Isles, the Black Griffin of the Lord of the Isles or the three legs in Man. Use of the Union Jack, except at sea, was unseemly for it indicated either great victory, celebration, or the death of the monarch. The Union Jack to the British was as the Royal Standard to the Queen (as opposed to her personal standard) -- it was used only on great or austere occasions.

At my godfather's funeral in the mid-eighties, his casket was draped in the Cross of St. George and the Saltire of St. Andrew, not the Union Jack. (He was an Anglo-Scot.) He received full military honours for his burial as he had been an officer of the RAF, and, more importantly, one of Doctor Snow's "bright young men"" who invented radar and broke the Enigma code.

Aunt Jean (may she rest in peace) would be horrified that you think the Union Jack should be used to mark the remembrances of the terrorist actions. It is not a matter of patriotism. To her, it would have meant honouring the terrorists and bowing to them. The British usage of the flag is a bit different than the American. It does not represent the nation in the same way. The Queen represents the nation, hence it is her standard which has more resemblance to our uses of our flag, but it is only used by Queen Elizabeth herself as the reigning monarch."