During the jubilee of Queen Wilhelmina in 1938, when she was reigning 40
years, each municipality had a standard, which had the following pattern:
a square flag with the colours of the provincial arms (except Friesland
and Noord-Brabant), in the canton (one quarter of the flag) the arms of
the municipality. The colours of the provinces were:
I don't know if the colonies also had flags. (Note that Flevoland
didn't exist back than).
In some municipalities the flag was forgotten, and when they found
many years later they thought it was a historical flag of the city (like
in Stramproy).
Mark Sensen, 31 August 1997
Provincial flags at Memorial Day
The 4th of May, the day before Liberation Day celebrating the surrender
of the German forces on 5 May 1945, is in the Netherlands Memorial Day.
The national commemoration is always at the National Monument on the Dam
in Amsterdam (in front of the Palace on the Dam). Behind the monument in
a half circle the flags of the provinces and the overseas territories are
flying half mast, from left to right:
13) Netherlands Antilles, 11) Overijssel, 9) Utrecht, 7) Limburg, 5)
Flevoland, 3) Friesland, 1) Gelderland, 2) North Holland, 4) Zeeland, 6)
South Holland, 8) Drenthe, 10) Groningen, 12) North Brabant, 14) Aruba.
Behind these flag the national flag of the Netherlands is flying half
mast. At 20.00 hour there are 2 minutes silence, after which the flags
are hoisted to the top, while the national anthem (the Wilhelmus)
is played.
I don't know why, but the order of the provincial flags is different
from the normal formal order (also used in the constitution until the early
1900s) according their former status:
the duchies: 1) North Brabant, 2) Limburg, 3) Gelderland; the counties:
4) South Holland, 5) North Holland, 6) Zeeland; the bishopric 7) Utrecht;
the lordship 8) Friesland; 9) Overijssel; the confederation ('oversticht',
dependency of the bishopric Utrecht) 10) Groningen; the 'landschap' (landscape?)
11) Drenthe; 12) Flevoland:. land won from the former sea
Mark Sensen, 04 May 1999
