Netherlands Flag: Meaning, History, Colors & Pictures

The national flag of the Netherlands has three equal horizontal bands: red at the top, white in the middle, and blue at the bottom. Its usual height-to-length ratio is 2:3. The plain tricolor has no coat of arms, and its colors were formally confirmed by royal decree in 1937.

The Netherlands flag is red, white, and blue, arranged in three equal horizontal bands from top to bottom. Official descriptions call the shades bright vermilion, white, and cobalt blue. The red and blue are distinct from the orange associated with the royal family and the lighter blue of Luxembourg’s flag.

The usual Netherlands flag ratio is 2:3, meaning two units high and three units long. Each horizontal band occupies one third of the total height. The 1937 royal decree establishes the colors but does not prescribe this ratio; official display guidance describes 3:2 length to height as the general form.

The Netherlands flag represents the country and the unity and independence of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The 1937 decree specifies its colors without assigning a separate virtue to each stripe. Claims that red officially means bravery, white peace, and blue loyalty should therefore be treated as interpretations, not that decree’s wording.

Orange is associated with the House of Orange and the earlier orange, white, and blue flag tradition. The modern national flag instead uses red, white, and blue. Royal occasions can combine the tricolor with a separate orange pennant, preserving the orange connection without replacing the flag’s upper red band.

The Prince’s Flag, commonly called the Prinsenvlag, is the historical orange, white, and blue tricolor associated with the House of Orange. It belongs to the ancestry of the Dutch flag. The current national flag uses red instead of orange, so an orange upper band identifies a different historical design.

Red gradually replaced orange during the seventeenth century. The Royal House presents better visibility at sea as a reported explanation, rather than a conclusively proven single cause. The change was a historical development, not a modern decision to remove the royal family’s color from an otherwise newly designed flag.

The Dutch flag developed through several political periods rather than one design competition. Orange, white, and blue appears in the sixteenth-century tradition; red gradually replaced orange in the seventeenth century. Revolutionary and French rule brought changes, the tricolor returned after 1813, and a royal decree confirmed red, white, and blue in 1937.

February 19, 1937 is the date commonly given for the Netherlands flag’s formal adoption because Queen Wilhelmina issued Royal Decree No. 93 that day. More precisely, the decree confirmed red, white, and blue as the Kingdom’s flag colors. The tricolor itself had already been used for centuries before that decision.

Royal Decree No. 93 states that the colors of the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are red, white, and blue. It does not supply stripe measurements, a drawing, HEX values, or individual symbolic meanings. More detailed modern descriptions should not be presented as if all appeared in that short decree.

The Netherlands flag is not generally attributed to a single modern designer. It evolved from an older tricolor tradition connected with the House of Orange, followed by the gradual replacement of orange with red. Queen Wilhelmina’s 1937 decree confirmed the colors; it did not credit an artist with inventing the entire design.

The artwork on this page uses red #AE1C28, white #FFFFFF, and blue #21468B. Their RGB values are 174, 28, 40; 255, 255, 255; and 33, 70, 139. These are declared screen approximations, not numerical color values enacted by the 1937 decree or a guarantee of matching printed cloth.

NEN’s catalog lists NEN 3055:1958, the textile standard for the Dutch flag’s red and blue, as withdrawn on April 13, 2026. It should therefore be identified as a historical standard rather than described as currently active. Its withdrawal is not, by itself, evidence that the national flag’s colors changed.

The tricolor is the national flag of the Netherlands, and the 1937 decree expressly calls it the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Kingdom comprises four countries: the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. The country of the Netherlands also includes Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba in the Caribbean.

People often say “Holland flag” when they mean the national flag of the Netherlands: red, white, and blue. Strictly, Holland refers to North Holland and South Holland, two of the country’s twelve provinces. Those provincial identities should not be confused with the national tricolor or with the wider Kingdom.

Under the government flag instructions, an orange pennant accompanies the Dutch tricolor on King’s Day and the birthdays of Queen Máxima, Princess Beatrix, and the Princess of Orange. It is a separate royal addition above the flag. Other ordinary flag days use the national tricolor without that orange pennant.

Dutch government instructions specify recurring royal birthdays, national commemorations, and other occasions for flying the flag. Some dates apply to all central government buildings, while others apply only to selected buildings. These instructions provide optional guidance for private citizens and organizations, and special instructions may be issued for particular events.

On May 4, the Dutch flag is flown at half staff without an orange pennant for Remembrance Day. Government instructions specify 6 p.m. until sunset on state buildings. The National Committee for 4 and 5 May asks residents to fly it at half staff throughout daylight, from sunrise until sunset.

On May 5, Liberation Day, the Dutch flag is flown at full staff without an orange pennant. This differs from the half-staff remembrance display on May 4. The government calendar includes May 5 among the days for all central government buildings to fly the flag, and private participation is voluntary.

The recurring August 15 instruction is to fly the Netherlands flag at full staff, without an orange pennant, to mark the formal end of World War II. It is not the same half-staff display used on May 4. The government calendar gives August 16 as the specified alternative date when applicable.

Yes. Dutch government guidance says that citizens, businesses, and organizations may fly the national flag on any day. The recurring instructions for government buildings are not compulsory for private users. Weddings, successful examinations, and personal mourning are examples of occasions on which people may choose to display the flag.

The customary half-staff sequence is to raise the Dutch flag fully, then lower it slowly to the mourning position and secure the line. Before taking it down, raise it fully again and then lower it. Published municipal guidance describes this sequence and requires enough clearance to keep the flag off the ground.

Dutch custom is to display the national flag between sunrise and sunset. Government guidance says that, if the flag remains outside at night, good practice is to illuminate it so that its colors are clearly visible. This is display etiquette, distinct from a general prohibition on private citizens flying the flag.

The Netherlands flag has no separate reverse design. Its plain horizontal bands remain red at the top, white in the middle, and blue at the bottom when viewed from either side of an upright flag. The attachment side changes relative to the observer, but there is no emblem or lettering to reverse.

No. The royal standard is a separate flag associated with the monarch, while the national flag is the red, white, and blue tricolor. The royal standard has an orange field, a Nassau-blue cross, and heraldic elements. Adding an orange pennant to the national flag does not turn it into that standard.

No. Dutch naval practice distinguishes the national flag, the naval jack, and the commissioning pennant. They are separate items with different functions, even when displayed on the same ship. A photograph showing a jack or a narrow pennant should not be used as the master image of the Netherlands national flag.

Both flags have horizontal red, white, and blue bands, but Luxembourg uses a distinctly lighter, sky-blue lower band. The Dutch flag’s blue is darker. Proportions also help: the Netherlands commonly uses 2:3, while Luxembourg’s law allows 3:5 or 1:2. The comparison here uses Luxembourg’s 3:5 form and declared screen approximations.

The Netherlands and Russia both use three equal horizontal bands, but their order is different. The Netherlands places red above white above blue; Russia places white above blue above red. Read the colors from top to bottom rather than identifying either country from the presence of red, white, and blue alone.

The Netherlands flag has horizontal red, white, and blue bands. France’s flag has vertical blue, white, and red bands, with blue next to the flagpole. The direction of the bands is therefore the first distinction. Their shared color names do not make the two national designs interchangeable in ordinary upright display.

Draw a rectangle three units long and two units high. Divide its height into three equal horizontal bands, then fill them red, white, and blue from top to bottom. Keep the edges straight and the bands touching. Do not add a coat of arms, orange stripe, decorative border, or lettering.

Common errors include reversing the stripe order, using orange instead of red, choosing Luxembourg’s pale blue, making the bands unequal, or stretching the rectangle. Another mistake is adding the royal coat of arms to the plain national flag. A correct drawing keeps three equal horizontal bands and a consistent, declared color palette.

The ordinary Netherlands national flag is a plain tricolor without a coat of arms, crown, lion, or inscription. Heraldic designs appear on other Dutch symbols, including the royal standard. Adding them to the red, white, and blue rectangle creates a variant illustration rather than the unadorned national flag shown here.