France Flags – French Tricolore, Bunting & Regional Flags

France flags: the Tricolore and what it stands for

The French flag is three equal vertical bands of blue, white and red, blue at the hoist, in a 2:3 proportion. Its colours date from the cockade of July 1789, when the red and blue of Paris were set either side of the royal white, and the vertical tricolour was fixed by law on 15 February 1794. It was set aside during the Bourbon Restoration and returned for good in 1830; today it is written into Article 2 of the French constitution. Our France flag has the blue band at the pole, which matters because a tricolore flown the wrong way round reads as a different country’s flag.

This collection also holds the French Resistance flag, the tricolore charged with the Cross of Lorraine that de Gaulle adopted for the Free French in 1940, a France smiley face flag for fan zones, and the regional and overseas designs described below.

When the French flag is flown

Bastille Day on 14 July is the big one: French restaurants, language schools, twinning associations and expat clubs across Britain dress up for it, so order by early July. Armistice Day on 11 November, the D-Day anniversaries on 6 June and any Six Nations weekend when France visit Twickenham, Cardiff or Murrayfield follow close behind, along with the Tour de France each July.

Sizes and uses

5ft x 3ft is the size to hang outside a bistro or fly from a garden telescopic pole, and it is the size most twinning committees buy by the dozen. 3ft x 2ft suits classrooms, bedrooms and short poles; 8ft x 5ft is for club flagpoles, hotel forecourts and festival stages. Eyelets are fitted as standard, with rope and toggle or clips on the DuraFlag grade.

Three grades of French flag

Flagtex is the budget printed polyester: light, bright and good value for a party or a single weekend. Flagtex Nylon has a denser weave and a quadruple-stitched fly end for a season of regular use. The DuraFlag France flag is the one we recommend for anything flown daily: 150gsm knitted polyester, double-stitched edges, UV-fast inks and a choice of rope and toggle or clips.

France bunting

France bunting is printed on the same weatherproof cloth as the flags and sewn to a strong tape, so it can stay up outside for the whole of July. Triangle pennants give a bistro-awning look; rectangle pennants show the full tricolore on every flag. It is a favourite for French markets, wine evenings and school language weeks.

Hand flags, table flags and windsocks

France hand flags on wooden sticks are what supporters wave at the rugby and what pupils carry on a French day. The France table flag with base dresses a restaurant counter, embassy desk or conference table, and the France windsock gives a campsite or garden pole some movement when the wind is light.

French regional flags: Brittany, Normandy, Corsica and more

The French regional flags range covers the historic provinces and the modern regions: the black-and-white Gwenn-ha-du of Brittany, the two golden leopards of Normandy, the Moor’s head of Corsica, Alsace, Burgundy, Savoy, Provence, Lorraine, Aquitaine, Auvergne, Picardy, Île-de-France and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, most of them with matching bunting, hand flags and table flags. Overseas France is covered too, from Martinique, French Polynesia and the Marquesas to Guadeloupe, Réunion, New Caledonia and Saint-Pierre in the French overseas territories range. Other European countries are grouped under world flags.

France flag FAQs

Popular in this collection

• France Flag (3x2 to 8x5ft, 3 grades)from £6.99
• France Buntingfrom £9.98
• France Hand Flagson sticks
• French Resistance FlagCross of Lorraine
• French Regional FlagsBrittany to Corsica
• Telescopic Flag Poles3m–12m