Why Did France's Flag Change Its Shade of Blue — Twice?

Most people assume national flags are fixed forever once they're adopted. France's flag proves otherwise, and it's actually changed its exact shade of blue twice in the last 50 years!

If you compare official French flags from the mid-20th century to the ones used more recently at the Élysée Palace, you'll notice the blue isn't always the same. Historically, the Tricolore used a deep navy blue. In 1976, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing had the blue lightened to a brighter "royal blue," closer to the color used on the flag of the European Community at the time. The change was symbolic: a visual gesture toward European unity, at a moment when France was pushing for closer cooperation with its neighbors.

French Flag, official version

That lighter blue stuck around for decades. Then, in July 2020, President Emmanuel Macron quietly reversed the decision. The flags flown at the Élysée went back to the original navy blue, described by the presidency as a deliberate nod to French history - the same shade associated with the Volunteers of Year II, the WWI "Poilus," and the Free French forces, and the blue still used on the flag that flies under the Arc de Triomphe every November 11th.

Neither change was ever written into French law. The constitution simply says the flag is "blue, white, red" - no exact color code specified. That's part of why you'll still see both shades in the wild today, depending on who ordered the flag and when. Not every townhall can afford to make the change of flags, and in fact, not many people notice the difference. Researching this I learnt that some countries like France don't have a set color for flags in the law (and on the contrary, some are veeeery particular with their flag design). In french law, a stripe of blue, white and red make a french flag and that's it!


This kind of detail we were especially careful about when creating our flag packages. There sometimes is a big difference between the flags that you see being used and the official versions, and official flags change quite often (even in tiny details like a shade of blue). 

Our World Pack uses the current official navy blue, matching what you'll see flown on the presidencial palace!