Introduction to the flag of Sealand
What is the flag of Sealand? Sealand, or to be more precise, The Principality of Sealand, is the most famous micronation in the world. And if you are going to be a nation, you need a flag. Here is the story of the flag of Sealand.
To read more about micronations (and our obsession with them), click here.
The History of Sealand
We won’t go hugely into Sealand’s history, but it is essentially an old War War 2 Tower (Roughts Tower) that was in international waters. A canny British fella named Roy Bates declared it a sovereign nation, and 40+ years later, it snowed on its third prince. Whether the British like it or not, Sealand is here to stay.
Does visiting Sealand count as visiting a country? Check out the YPT rules of engagement.
The Sealand Flag
The flag, as you will see from the image above, might look a little familiar. The flag itself is not dissimilar to the flags of Namibia, St Kitts and indeed, one of our favourite places, the Solomon Islands. Ironically the “independence” of Sealand predated all of these nations.
To read about visiting Honiara, click here, or to find out about why they just blocked Facebook, click here.
The flag was designed in 1967, right when nationhood was proclaimed. The flag consists of a red portion, a black portion and a white line that splits through the middle. And while it has gone through the odd change largely remains pretty much how it has always been.
What Does the Sealand Flag Mean?
The red represents Roy Bates and his family (the founder), the black his days doing Pirate Radio (namely Radio Essex), with the white line representing Sealand’s virtuous path.
Combined they make up what is the flag of Sealand, perhaps one of the most iconic, if not the most iconic of the flags that exist in the world of Micronations!
Where Has the Sealand Flag Been Planted?
It was planted on Mt Everest, but we have something more impressive than that! Dean Karalakas planned the flag on our inaugural trip to Bir Tawil, as he happens to be a knight of Sealand.
And to make things even more quirky, Duchess Flo of Islandia visited Sealand and flew the flag of Islandia next to the flag of Sealand. As you can imagine this was an extremely proud moment for those of us involved with nation building in Islandia.
Where can I buy the Sealand flag?
Essentially it can be purchased online at the official Sealand government website, where one can buy a whole heap of other country based memorabilia too. You could also make yourself a bootleg flag, but we will feel that is missing the point somewhat…
And can you travel to Sealand? We will cover this is another articlle, but this is something we are very much working on.
And it is not that out of this world, with some tourists having already visited on very private and exclusive tripos. I though do personally have a friend who is very close with the Bates Royal family, so am hoping that will be enough of an in to be able to get me into the country and give me the chance to proudly wave my Sealand flag on the air!
If you don’t know about Islandia, then check out our friends at Let’s Buy An Island.
And that is all you need to know about the flag of Sealand. It might not currently be possible to visit Sealand, but believe me, we are working on it.
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