Flag of Belgium - wikipedia Flag of Belgium For a list of flags associated with Belgium, see List of Belgian flags. Belgium Use National flag Proportion 13 : 15 Adopted 23 January 1831 Design A vertical tricolour of black, yellow, and red. Variant flag of Belgium Use civil ensign Proportion 2 : 3 or similar Variant flag of Belgium Use State ensign Proportion 2 : 3 Adopted 1950 Design As above, with the central pale defaced by a lion rampant ensigned by a crown, both sable ( black ), the lion armed and langued gules ( red ). Variant flag of Belgium Use Naval ensign Proportion 2 : 3 Adopted 23 February 1950 Design A yellow saltire on a white field, bordered above and below in red and to the left and right in black, charged on the top with a crown above crossed cannons and on the bottom by a fouled anchor. The national flag of the kingdom of Belgium ( Dutch : Vlag van het koninkrijk België, French : Drapeau de la Belgique, German : Flagge Belgiens ) is a tricolour of three bands of black, yellow, and red. The colours were taken from the coat of arms of the Duchy of Brabant, and the vertical design may be based on the flag of France. When flown, the black band is nearest the pole ( at the hoist side ). It has the unusual proportions of 13 : 15. Contents 1 Previous flags 2 Independence and adoption of current flag 3 Design and specifications 4 Variants 4.1 National flag and civil ensign 4.2 Naval ensign and jack 4.3 Royal standard and flags on the royal palaces 5 Protocol 6 Related flags 7 See also 8 References 9 External links Previous flags After the death of Charlemagne, the present - day territory of Belgium ( except the County of Flanders ) became part of Lotharingia, which had a flag of two horizontal red stripes separated by a white stripe. The territory then passed into Spanish hands, and after the coronation of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor yellow and red, the colours of Spain, were added. From the 16th century to the end of the 18th century, the colours of what is now Belgium were red, white and yellow. Occasionally the red cross of Burgundy was placed on the white section of the flag. During the period of Austrian rule, a number of different flags were tried, until the Austrian Emperor imposed the Austrian flag. The population of Brussels was opposed to this, and following the example of France, red, yellow and black cockades began to appear ; those being the colours of Brabant. The colours thus correspond to the red lion of Hainaut, Limburg and Luxembourg, the yellow lion of Brabant, and the black lion of Flanders and Namur. Independence and adoption of current flag Flag of the Brabant Revolution ( 1789 -- 1790 ) Flag of the Belgian Revolution ( 1830 -- 1831 ) The early revolutionary variations of the Belgian tricolour On 26 August 1830, the day after the rioting at the Brussels Opera and the start of the Belgian Revolution, the flag of France flew from the city hall of Brussels. The insurgents hastily replaced it with a tricolour of red, yellow and black horizontal stripes ( similar to the one used during the Brabant Revolution of 1789 -- 1790 which had established the United States of Belgium ) made at a nearby fabric store. As a result, Article 193 of the Constitution of Belgium describes the colours of the Belgian nation as Red, Yellow and Black instead of using the order shown in the official flag. On 23 January 1831, the stripes changed from horizontal to vertical, and on 12 October the flag attained its modern form, with the black placed at the hoist side of the flag. Design and specifications The official guide to protocol in Belgium states that the national flag measures 2.6 m ( 8.5 ft ) tall for each 3 m ( 9.8 ft ) wide, giving it a ratio of 13 : 15. Each of the stripes is one - third of the width of the flag. The yellow is in fact yellow and not the darker gold of the flag of Germany, which is a black - red - gold tricolour, striped horizontally. Colour scheme Black Yellow Red Pantone Black Yellow 115 Red 32 CMYK 0 - 0 - 0 - 100 0 - 6 - 87 - 0 0 - 86 - 63 - 0 RGB 0 - 0 - 0 253 - 218 - 36 239 - 51 - 64 Hex triplet # 000000 # FDDA24 # EF3340 Variants The flag on the Royal Palace of Brussels. National flag and civil ensign The national flag has the unusual proportions of 13 : 15. The 2 : 3 flag is the civil ensign, the correct flag for use by civilians at sea. Naval ensign and jack The naval ensign of Belgium has the three national colours in a saltire, on a white field, with a black crown above crossed cannons at the top and a black anchor at the bottom. It was created in 1950, shortly after the Belgian Navy was re-established, having been a section of the British Royal Navy during World War II, and it is reminiscent of the white ensign of the Royal Navy. There is also an official Belgian naval jack, which is the same as the national flag, except in a 1 : 1 ratio, making it square. Royal standard and flags on the Royal palaces The royal standard of Belgium is the personal standard of the current king, Philippe, and features his monogram, an ' F ' ( for the Dutch ' Filip ' ), crossed with a ' P ' in the four corners. The designs of royal standards of past monarchs have been similar. Notably, the flag of Belgium flown on the Royal Palace of Brussels and the Royal Castle of Laeken is in none of the proportions above. It has the irregular 4 : 3 ratio, making it taller than it is wide. The stripes remain vertical. These proportions are explained as an aesthetic consideration, as the palaces are large, and the flags are thus viewed from far below, which makes them look more normal due to foreshortening. The flags are flown above the palaces when the king is in Belgium, not necessarily just in one of the palaces. The flags are not flown if the king is on a state visit to another country or on vacation outside Belgium, There have been exceptions to this rule, but in general presence or absence of the flag is a reasonably reliable indicator of whether or not the king is in the country. Protocol The flag on the Belgian Senate building. As Belgium is a federal state, the flag of Belgium and the flags of the communities or regions in principle occupy the same rank. Nonetheless, when flags are raised and lowered or carried in a procession, the national flag takes precedence over all the others. The order of precedence is : The national flag of Belgium The flag of the community or region of Belgium The European flag The flags of the provinces of Belgium, in alphabetical order in the local language, if more than one is flown The flag of the municipality If there is a visiting head of state, that country 's flag may be set second in precedence, all other flags dropping a rank. Related flags Flag of the Austrian Netherlands Flag of the United Belgian States Flag of Belgium ( 1830 ) Flag of the Netherlands Flag of France Flag of Benelux See also Belgium portal Flag of Flanders Flag of Wallonia Flag of Brussels Driekleur trikot References ^ Jump up to : Van den Bussche, E., Chief of Protocol, Belgian Federal Department of the Interior ( 2008 ). Noble Belgique, ô Mère chérie - LE PROTOCOLE EN BELGIQUE ( PROTOCOL IN BELGIUM ) ( in French ). Heule : Editions UGA. ISBN 978 - 90 - 6768 - 935 - 9. Jump up ^ `` Belgium ''. Flags of the World. June 6, 2009. Retrieved October 3, 2009. Jump up ^ Converted from CMYK using an online colour converter. Jump up ^ `` Civil flag and Ensign of Belgium ''. Flags of the World. April 17, 2009. Retrieved November 3, 2009. ^ Jump up to : `` Belgium : Naval ensign and jack ''. Flags of the World. July 7, 2006. Retrieved November 3, 2009. ^ Jump up to : `` Belgium : Royal standard ''. Flags of the World. Retrieved July 3, 2013. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flags of Belgium. Belgium at Flags of the World Belgium articles History Gallia Belgica Prince - Bishopric of Liège Burgundian Netherlands Southern Netherlands Spanish Netherlands Austrian Netherlands Brabant Revolution United Kingdom of the Netherlands Long nineteenth century Belgian Revolution Crisis of 1870 Empire World War I invasion occupation World War II invasion occupation Royal Question Congo Crisis State reform Geography Climate Extreme points Lakes Mountains Rivers Subdivisions Politics Constitution Elections Executive Foreign relations Human rights LGBT Law enforcement Judiciary Military Monarchy Parliament Political parties Prime Minister Economy 2008 -- 2009 financial crisis Banking Central bank Communications Energy Tourism Trade unions Transport Science and technology Society Demographics People list Religion Education Honours Crime Languages Media Healthcare Culture Architecture Art Cinema Comics Cuisine Flag Literature Music Public holidays Sport Television World Heritage Sites Outline Index Book Portal Flags of Europe Sovereign states Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Vatican City States with limited recognition Abkhazia Artsakh Kosovo Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria Dependencies and other entities Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Svalbard Other entities European Union Sovereign Military Order of Malta National flags and coats of arms National flags Sovereign states Dependent territories Timeline National coats of arms Sovereign states Dependent territories Heraldry portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flag_of_Belgium&oldid=847942983 '' Categories : Flags of Belgium National flags National symbols of Belgium Flags introduced in 1831 Hidden categories : CS1 French - language sources ( fr ) Articles containing Dutch - language text Articles containing French - language text Articles containing German - language text Talk Variants Contents About Wikipedia Languages Afrikaans አማርኛ Aragonés Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Български Bosanski Brezhoneg Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית ქართული Kiswahili Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Magyar Македонски मराठी Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Română Русский Scots Shqip Sicilianu Simple English Slovenčina Ślůnski Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska ไทย Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt Yorùbá 中文 55 more Edit links This page was last edited on 28 June 2018, at 20 : 41 ( UTC ). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what countrys flag is black yellow and red
Answer: Belgium