Flag of France
Three equal vertical bands of blue, white and red, with blue at the hoist.
What the flag means
The Élysée Palace explains the tricolour as the white of the king combined with the blue and red of Paris. In the Marquis de Lafayette's account, white was added to the blue and red cockade of the Paris militia in 1789.
History
The three colours were first combined in cockades in July 1789. On 15 February 1794 their order on the flag was fixed as blue, white and red, to a design credited to the painter Jacques-Louis David. The restored Bourbon monarchy replaced the tricolour with a white flag in 1814, and Louis-Philippe brought it back after the July Revolution of 1830. Article 2 of the 1958 Constitution names it as the national emblem. In July 2020 the Élysée went back to a dark navy blue; a lighter blue had been in use since the 1970s.
French Navy flags use stripes of unequal width in the ratio 30:33:37, so that they look equal when the flag is flying. The rule dates from 1853.
Earlier flags of France
- 1790–1794Red, white and blue tricolour, the reverse of the current order
- 1814–1830Plain white flag of the restored Bourbon monarchy
Flags of France's neighbours
Sources
- Wikipedia: Flag of France
- Élysée: The French flag
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Read how we research flags in our editorial policy, or report a mistake.
