Saturday, November 22, 2008

Flags and standards worn in the Yacht

1. Once approved, the Ceremonial Proposals for each visit will dictate these, but the following notes are guidance on the ‘norm’.
2. HM The Queen Embarked
   1. Main -
      Royal Standard (or personal flag) (or personal flag for the Commonwealth country visited).
   2. Fore -
      Flag of Lord High Commodore
   3. Mizzen -
      Union Flag (or National flag of the Commonwealth country visited).
3. HRH The Duke of Edinburgh Embarked
   1. Main -
      Personal Standard
   2. Fore -
      Union Flag or Commodore of the Fleet.
   3. Mizzen -
      Union Flag (or National flag of the Commonwealth country visited).
      Mizzen flag may be:
      1. Master of Trinity House – Normally
      2. Commodore of Royal Yacht Squadron or Patron/Commodore/Commodore of other Yacht Club as appropriate – Cowes
      3. Commodore of Gibraltar Yacht Club – Sometimes at Gibraltar
      4. Standard of Grand Master of Honourable Company of Master Mariners – On Merchant Navy occasions
      5. Commodore of RNSA.
4. Other members of the Royal Family
   1. Main Personal Standard
   2. Fore CORY’s Broad Pennant
   3. Mizzen White Ensign or National Flag of the Commonwealth country visited or other flag (eg Prince of Wales – Trinity House Jack and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother – Lord Warden of the Cinque ports.
5. TRH The Royal Children If alone, CORY’s Broad Pennant only.
6. Foreign Royalty and Heads of State Precedent and particular circumstances of the day will decide what should be done. The SCO and the CCY keep a record of previous occasions.
7. Sizes of Court Flags Various sizes are worn depending on the circumstances and the weather. The following are representative:
   
   

   	Jack	Fore	Main	Mizzen	Ensign
   Harbour and at Sea close to land	10	12	14	12	14
   At Sea on Passage	8	10	12	10	12
   At Sea (bad weather) OR	6	8	10	8	10
   	6	6	8	6	8

   
   
8. Standards in Other Ships The Personal Standard only is hoisted in other ships for short visits. The Personal Standard will continue to be worn in HM Yacht during such visits.
9. Dress Ship Apart from the established dress ship occasions, the Yacht normally dresses overall in harbour whenever Royalty is embarked. At Cowes the Yacht is dressed overall as follows:
   1. Day Royalty arrives onboard.
   2. Cowes Town Regatta Day.
   3. Day of departure of Royalty.
10. Responsibility for Flags in the Yacht The SCO is responsible for 6 breadth flags and above, while the Boatswain provides 4 breadth flags and below (including car flags and boat plates).