^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Kingdom of Romania 1872-1948

Coat of arms
Royal standards, 1922-1947
Royal standard before 1922
Naval Rank Flags
Governmental Flags
World War II Rank Flags

See also:

Coat of arms

from http://www.cimec.ro/Istorie/Unire/coat.htm, located by István Molnár, 25 February 2001

The Romanian government's website, coat of arms page, states:

The flags of Romania have combined the major colors of the arms and flags of Moldavia and Wallachia since 1859. The arms formulated in 1872 were used until 1921. The change in arms reflected the Union of 1 December 1918 which transferred new areas that were formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Romania. Necessarily, such a change modified all flags that used the arms. The major changes were the addition of the arms of the House of Hohenzollern, the Crown of Romania and the dolphins which represent the Black Sea.
Calvin Paige Herring, 29 April 1998

Romania Coat-of-Arms dating back to 1921 and attesting, in terms of blazonry, to the Romanian people's fulfilment of its national desideratum. The field features a cross-bearing eagle with the insignia of power and a four-side escutcheon on its breast showing old traditional heraldic symbols; the cross-bearing eagle accompanied by the Sun and the moon (Wallachia); the auroch's head with a star between horns, flanked by the rose and a crescent (Moldavia); a lion crossing a bridge over natural waves (the Banat); a protruding eagle accompanied by the Sun, the crescent and the seven citadels (Transylvania); two facing dolphins (the country's maritime area).
Source: Bucharest State Archives, Heraldic Consultative Commission Funds, Annex, File 3. at http://www.cimec.ro/Istorie/Unire/coat.htm
István Molnár, 25 February 2001

Royal standards, 1922-1947

King's Standard

by Željko Heimer, based on Flaggenbuch (1939)

On a brownish textured field with blue-yellow triangle-patterned border overall is set a yellow bordered purpule fleury cross and over it the coat of arms of Romania: an Eagle or membered and beaked teine crowned and holding in his beak a cross also or, in his dexter claw a sword azure handled or and in his sinister a sceptre fleury of the last, bearing on his breast a shield quartered: first azure an eagle displayed or beaked and membered teine holding in his beak a cross or between a sun and a crescent also or, second gules an ox head afrontee between a rose and a crescent and in the chief a mullet of five all or, third gules a lion rampant issuant from a stone bridge or and in base water azure, fourth parted by a narrow fesse gules in the chief azure an eagle sable issuant beaked or between a sun or and a crescent argent and in the base or seven towers embattled four and three gules, fifth in base azure two dolphins afrontee heads to base, overall an escutcheon quartered argent and sable.
Precise adoption date unknown.
There are 13 (one invisible under the cross beam) yellow triangles along each side and a yellow corner-piece in each corner.
Željko Heimer, 23 December 2002

Queen's standard:

by Željko Heimer, based Flaggenbuch (1939)

As the King's standard, but without the purple cross.
Željko Heimer, 23 December 2002

Crown prince's standard:

by Željko Heimer, based Flaggenbuch (1939)

As the King's standard, but without the cross, the main field blue, border red with yellow triangles.
Željko Heimer, 23 December 2002

A photograph of an actual example of this flag was posted on eBay in March 2003. Note that image is presented as the reverse. The owner noted that it dated from the reign of Carol II (Charles II) - this was from 1930 to 1940, which was also the time of the Flaggenbuch (1939) edition that shows this flag and used to construct the illustration above.
Bill Garrison, 11 March 2003

Other prince's standard:

by Željko Heimer, based Flaggenbuch (1939)

As the Crown Prince's standard, but the field blue only, without triangulated border.
Željko Heimer, 23 December 2002

Queen Mother's Standard:

by Željko Heimer

Red-pinkish textured field with the coat of arms in the middle as on other royal standards. The Queen Mother's standard is reported in the Flaggenbuch (1992) reprint of Flaggenbuch (1939).
Željko Heimer, 23 December 2002

Royal Standard pre-1922

1:1, by Željko Heimer, based on National Geographic (1917)

Square flag with yellow field, a blue border at hoist and red and fly, in the middle the coat of arms and in each corner a royal crown. The coat of arms is of the 1881 pattern (when Romania became a kingdom), and differs only marginally from the 1872 pattern (by addition of the Order of the Crown of Romania). The crowns in the corners appear black and white in the National Geographic (1917) image, but I concluded that this is due to the printing (in)abilities and I have used the fully-coloured crown (actually the one from Calvin's 1939 Reserve Ensign). If anyone has access to an independent source of this flag maybe they can confirm this choice of mine.
Željko Heimer, 28 December 2002

One should never be too precise in the colours when speaking of flags, apart of what officially stated in the laws and decrees. As a matter of fact, they depend on the material used to make the flag and the tints used to colour it. Different producers may comply with the official dispositions and still provide diverse shades. It is even more complex when we speak about royal symbols, as these were usually one of a kind, made out of precious materials that were unknown to ordinary flag makers. In the case of the Romanian banners, the images published on paper tried to reproduce a particular precious textile that was red-violet in shade. This is differently rendered in Neubecker's works (Flaggenbuch (1939)) and a number of other sources, for example in the Almanacco Navale of the Italian Navy,
1942 and 1943. Nevertheless they all refer to the same flag. Briefly, on March 30th, 1867 the first Romanian law on the Royal Standard stated that it had to match the war ensign. Consequently, the king used the war ensign and his standard followed the evolution of that ensign till the kingdom of Charles I. About 1900 this king determined to change his standard blue-yellow-red proportions into 1:4:1, adding to each canton an upright steel crown. The arms remained at the center of the yellow stripe. This solution went out of use on April 24th, 1922, when the Royal Standard became a red-violet square with a border all around made of 27 yellow and azure triangles per side plus four yellow triangles in each canton. All over appeared a dark blue cross with a thin yellow contour, superimposed the lesser arms without shield and crown. In contemporary French Navy flag books the Royal standard is illustrated displaying the lesser arms, but these pictures are wrong, probably being based on oral descriptions.
Pier Paolo Lugli, 7 January 2003