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Principality of Monaco: Historical flags

Lozengy flag

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Principality of Monaco

Lozengy flag

Monaco lozengy flag - Image by M. Schmöger, 11 July 2002

The Flag Bulletin [tfb] has covered the symbols of Monaco in a recent article. The cover picture shows Whitney Smith's rendition of a Monaco lozengy flag.
This lozengy banner of arms seems to have been used mainly in the XVIIth century, as evidenced by paintings in the princely palace. As an unofficial flag it has been used until now. The aforementioned article shows a black-and-white photograph of the celebrations in 1957 when Prince Rainier married Grace Kelly (afterwards known as Princess Gracia Patricia). On this photograph there are eight of the banners of arms, however the exact number of lozenges cannot be counted, as the flags are not fully unfurled. There seems to be at least to different variants on this photograph, though, so I guess that (especially as an unofficial flag) there is quite some variation anyway.

M. Schmöger, 11 July 2002

The only model I have dates from 1881, and what information I have indicates that the number of lozenges are historically variable (also that the coat of arms itself dates from the early heraldic period), so the answer to what they stand for (other than the Grimaldi family) is very likely nothing at all.

Christopher Southworth, 23 March 2008