The Swedish flag’s symbolism, colours and cross

The blue and yellow flag with its yellow cross is one of Sweden’s strongest symbols. It unites everyone who lives in the country regardless of background, and it is used in both joy and grief. But why does it look the way it does, and which colours are actually the right ones? This guide goes through the flag’s symbolism and the exact colours under Swedish law.

The colours come from the coat of arms

According to Riksarkivet, the flag’s colours come from the national coat of arms. The lesser coat of arms consists of three golden crowns on a blue field, and the great coat of arms is divided by a yellow cross into four blue fields. Blue and yellow were therefore Sweden’s colours long before the flag took its present form.

There are also popular interpretations, for example that the blue stands for the sky and the water and the yellow for the sun or the fields of grain. They are beautiful images, but they are later explanations and not the flag’s historical origin.

The cross

The cross is set at right angles to the flag’s edges, as the law puts it, and shifted towards the pole. The Swedish flag was probably created with the Danish Dannebrog as its model, with its white cross on red. The same cross shape appears today in the flags of all the Nordic countries and is called the Nordic cross, or Scandinavian cross. It makes the Nordic flags easy to recognise as a family.

The flag’s exact colours

The Act on the Flag of Sweden says that the flag is light medium blue on the fields and golden yellow on the cross. The exact shades are set out in Ordinance (1983:826):

The NCS values are the legally binding ones, with a tolerance of less than ±5 NCS units for blackness, chromaticness and hue. The ordinance also gives the values in the CIE system. The Pantone and print colours come from Riksarkivet’s recommendations.

The proportions

The flag’s shape is also regulated. The ordinary rectangular flag has height and length in the ratio 10 to 16, and the cross divides it into the parts 5 + 2 + 9 along the length and 4 + 2 + 4 along the height. The swallow-tailed flag, used by the Royal House and the Swedish Armed Forces, is twice as long as it is high. More in the guide to flag types.

The flag as a shared symbol

Riksarkivet stresses that even the small wall or balcony flag represents Sweden and not any particular group, and that it can be used by everyone in Sweden regardless of origin. The flag is raised on National Day, at family celebrations, during state visits and in mourning, and it is the same in every context.

Protection of the flag

The flag has a certain legal protection:

• No additions. Under section 4 of the flag act, the flag may not bear marks, letters or other symbols beyond what the Act specifies for the Royal House and the Swedish Armed Forces.
• Trade marks. The flag may not be used in trade marks and the like without special permission. The Swedish Intellectual Property Office (Patent- och registreringsverket) examines the use of official designations.
• The colours are free. Using blue and yellow decoratively, for example in a product design, is allowed as long as it does not appear as the flag in a trade mark.

How the flag came about, from the 16th century to the present day, is described in the guide to the history of the flagpole.