Luxembourg Flag Meaning: History Facts Revealed For Kids

Luxembourg is a country that is located in the gorges of the Pétrusse and the Alzette rivers, in the middle of western Europe.

It is one of the most picturesque locations in all of Europe. The national flag of Luxembourg is one that has a simple design.

Luxembourg was one of the first city-states in all of western Europe, ruled by a succession of grand dukes as part of several empires. Their influence in the design of the flag is evident with the push to include the grand duke's coat of arms.

After the Belgian revolution, Luxembourg separated from the Netherlands because it was geographically distant. One of the fun flag facts is that the flag did not officially be put to use by the country until 1972.

After gaining its independence, it was only fitting that Luxembourg should have its own flag, and so a design was created in 1845.

It was the first to feature the tricolor of red, white, and light blue. Additionally, these colors were part of the coat of arms of rulers who would rule Luxembourg.

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Luxembourg Flag History

There is an interesting background to how the tricolor flag of Luxembourg came to existence. The flag itself has three colors. These are blue, red, and white. The red goes on the top, the white is in the middle, and the blue is on the bottom.

The flag of Luxembourg has been in use since 1848. It did not have a flag until 1830, and the first rendition made use of national colors that were from the Belgian Revolution.

The flag itself traces its descent from the House of Luxembourg's coat of arms from the Holy Roman Empire. The coat of arms featured a rampant red lion ensign. The red lion was surrounded by a royal mantling and crowned with a royal crown.

The Grand Duke Henri was the ruler who presided over all of Luxembourg. Luxembourg's flag is used to emulate the very spirit within the flag's design, with the red, white, and blue, meaning through the national colors. The red is used as a metaphor of power, of revolution that separated Luxembourg from the Netherlands in the first place.

It is also used as a symbol of the grit and courage of the people of Luxembourg. The white is used as a symbol of peace, harmony, and sincerity of the citizens of Luxembourg. Lastly, bright blue is used to signify the determination through the hard times the country has been through.

What country's flag is the Luxembourg flag design based?

The design of the flag of Luxembourg is an interesting choice and is an inspired work.

It is generally assumed that the flag of Luxembourg borrows heavily from the Dutch flag. While it is true that the Netherlands flag is very similar to the flag of Luxembourg, the design does not take inspiration from the Netherlands flag.

The Luxembourg flag takes its heritage from Belgium because it borrows the national colors of Belgium during the Belgian revolution. Luxembourg took the red, white, and blue and used them to form the tricolor design. This country based the design on the Belgian flag, and made improvements on the Grand Duke's flag.

Why do the Netherlands and Luxembourg have the same flag?

The flag of the Netherlands and and the flag of Luxembourg bear remarkable similarity. The horizontal triband of red, white, and blue might deceive one into thinking that both of these flags are the same.

The root of this answer is that the these two flags are actually different. The two flags do have horizontal stripes that are the color blue and the horizontal bands have two different blue colors. The blue stripe on the flag of the Netherlands is actually a darker shade.

The flag of Luxembourg features bright blue in its horizontal stripes. It is a light blue that looks like the blue color on the flag of the Netherlands. Le drapeau du Luxembourg is a combination of the flags of the Grand Dukes that came before, and culminates in the red, white, and blue horizontal tricolor that is in use.

Was there a debate about the Luxembourg flag?

The flag, while having been used since 1848, was not officially made the national flag of Luxembourg until 1972, after the passing of a law adopted it as the national flag.

Because the flag is a national symbol, there has been considerable debate whether it should be changed. In 2006, a member of parliament reasoned that the flag should include the red lion ensign, on the grounds that the flag bore too much resemblance to the Dutch flag.

However, no changes were made to the three horizontal stripes of red, white, and light blue.

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