Sixty Joyless De-Britished Uncrowned Commonpoor Years (1949-2009)

Elizabeth II Vice-Regal Saint: Remembering Paul Comtois (1895–1966), Lt.-Governor of Québec
Britannic Inheritance: Britain's proud legacy. What legacy will America leave?
English Debate: Daniel Hannan revels in making mince meat of Gordon Brown
Crazy Canucks: British MP banned from Canada on national security grounds
Happy St. Patrick's: Will Ireland ever return to the Commonwealth?
Voyage Through the Commonwealth: World cruise around the faded bits of pink.
No Queen for the Green: The Green Party of Canada votes to dispense with monarchy.
"Sir Edward Kennedy": The Queen has awarded the senator an honorary Knighthood.
President Obama: Hates Britain, but is keen to meet the Queen?
The Princess Royal: Princess Anne "outstanding" in Australia.
H.M.S. Victory: In 1744, 1000 sailors went down with a cargo of gold.
Queen's Commonwealth: Britain is letting the Commonwealth die.
Justice Kirby: His support for monarchy almost lost him appointment to High Court
Royal Military Academy: Sandhurst abolishes the Apostles' Creed.
Air Marshal Alec Maisner, R.I.P. Half Polish, half German and 100% British.
Cherie Blair: Not a vain, self regarding, shallow thinking viper after all.
Harry Potter: Celebrated rich kid thinks the Royals should not be celebrated
The Royal Jelly: A new king has been coronated, and his subjects are in a merry mood
Victoria Cross: Australian TROOPER MARK DONALDSON awarded the VC
Godless Buses: Royal Navy veteran, Ron Heather, refuses to drive his bus
Labour's Class War: To expunge those with the slightest pretensions to gentility
100 Top English Novels of All Time: The Essential Fictional Library
BIG BEN: Celebrating 150 Years of the Clock Tower

Tuesday 3 June 2008

New Zealand's Changing Standards

A new Vice-Regal blue flag — with the Shield of the New Zealand Coat of Arms surmounted by a Royal Crown in the centre — will be flown for the first time at a ceremony at Government House Auckland on 5 June and at Government House Wellington on 17 June.

ggnzflag1The new flag, which has been approved by Queen Elizabeth II of New Zealand, and is supported by the Governor-General, Hon Anand Satyanand, was announced by the Prime Minister, Rt Hon Helen Clark, on Monday 2 June 2008 — the Queen’s Official Birthday in New Zealand.

Governor-General (1953-2008)

nz_ggIn January 1931 the hitherto present flag of the Governor-General was introduced, to reflect the Balfour Declaration of 1926 whereby the Governor-General was now the representative of the monarch in the Dominion of New Zealand, rather than a representative of the British government. The New Zealand badge was replaced by the Royal Crest in full colour. The words “Dominion of New Zealand” were displayed on a gold scroll beneath the badge. The gold scroll beneath the crest formerly contained the style “Dominion of New Zealand”. This was changed to “New Zealand ” in around 1953, after the term 'Dominion' was replaced officially with the term "Realm of New Zealand".

Governor-General (1937-1953)

nz_ggol1As neither Governor-General Lord Bledisloe nor his ministers were sympathetic to the 1931 British Commonwealth change, the old dominion flag below was retained, and the new flag was not flown until after Lord Galway's arrival in 1937.

Governor-General (1908-1937)

nz_g1917In 1907 New Zealand's status was officially transformed from self-governing colony to dominion. To mark the transition to independence, the New Zealand Government requested that the garland of laurels on the Governor’s flag should be replaced by one of fern leaves, the fern leaf was already recognised as one of New Zealand's national symbols. In a letter of 5 January 1908 the Governor requested that the garland around the badge on his flag be changed from the usual green laurel leaves to a garland of fern leaves, and referred to the garland of maple leaves surrounding the badge on the Flag of the Governor General of Canada as a precedent. This was approved without hesitation, since the regulations only stipulated that the device on the flags of Governors should be surrounded by a “green garland”. The type of leaves was not specified.

Governor (1874-1908)

nz_gov1In October 1874 Sir James Fergusson announced that, "... that the seal or badge to be worn in the Union Jack used by the Governor of New Zealand when embarked in any boat or other vessel shall be the Southern Cross as represented by four five-pointed red stars emblazoned on the white shield aforesaid, and the monogram NZ in red letters in the centre of the Southern Cross. Succeeding Governors found it convenient to use this flag on shore and it became accepted as the official vice-regal flag.

Governor (1869-1874)

nz~1869In 1869 the Admiralty directed that "Governors ...administering the Governments of British Colonies and Dependencies be authorised to fly the Union Jack, with the Arms or Badge of the Colony emblazoned in the centre thereof". There was at the time no colonial badge for New Zealand. Accordingly in October 1869 the decision was made to including a Jack with the "Southern Cross, as represented in the Blue Ensign by four five-pointed red stars in the fly, with white borders to correspond to the colouring of the Jack; in the Jack by four five-pointed white stars on the red ground of the St George's Cross; and in the pendant by four stars near the staff similar to those in the Ensign".

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can anyone say why it is surmounted by the royal crown, not the royal crest?

Steven said...

New Zealand's Coat of Arms doesn't have a crest (unless the crown counts as the crest).

Anonymous said...

I think it's a jolly nice new flag - represents New Zealand and the Crown. Good stuff.

Anonymous said...

I think it's a jolly nice new flag - represents New Zealand and the Crown. Good stuff.

Anonymous said...

I like it, but why the change? It is too similar to the royal standard of New Zealand. Is the government moving to reinforce the view that the Governor-General is Head of State, de facto? In orther words is this creeping republicanism?

Tweedsmuir said...

The royal crest is the lion surmounted on Edward's crown. Since there is no lion in the new flag, it is simply the royal crown.

The last commenter is onto something. This is very much creeping Crown republicanism, in that the new flag now resembles the Queen's own personal flag for New Zealand. I fear they are planning a takeover after the demise of Elizabeth the Last!

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what resemblance there is between the Queen's standard for New Zealand and this new vice-regal one besides the fact that they both use - in different ways - the sheild of the royal arms.

Also, there never was a garland of maple leaves around the badge on the flag of the Governor General of Canada; it is the flags of most of the Lieutenant Governors that have that feature.

Anonymous said...

For James:

Governor-General (1921-31)

http://flagspot.net/images/c/ca-gg2.gif

Governor-General (1901-21)

http://flagspot.net/images/c/ca-gg1.gif


Beaverbrook

Anonymous said...

Off topic: a history of the use of the Royal Crest in British Columbia heraldry...

http://www.protocol.gov.bc.ca/protocol/prgs/symbols/coat_of_arms.htm

With Her Majesty’s agreement, the Royal Crest is for the first time in history being granted, with an appropriate differencing mark, to another sovereign entity.

There's a reason why we feel we're special here in British Columbia... :D

Anonymous said...

Hmm... I stand corrected!