France Flag

Flag for sale France Flag

The flag of France is known to the English as the French Tricolour or simply the Tricolour. The Tricolour became one of the most important flags in history, with its three-colour scheme copied by many other countries, all around the world.

The french flag is a tricolour flag featuring three vertical bands coloured blue (hoist side),white, and red.

Blue and red are the traditional colors of Paris, used on the city's coat of arms. Blue is identified with Saint Martin, red with Sainte Denis. White is described as the "ancient French colour" by Lafayette and it was added to the "revolutionary" colours of the militia cockade to "nationalise" the design, creating the tricolour cockade.

The French government website says that the white was the colour of the king,  blue and red were the colours of Paris.

The three colours are occasionally taken to represent the three elements of the revolutionary motto, liberté (freedom: blue), égalité (equality: white), fraternité (brotherhood: red).