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Standard of the Head of State 1940-1975 (Spain)

Estandarte de S.E. el Jefe del Estado y Generalísimo de los Ejércitos

*Estandarte*	*Guión*
1:1 by José Carlos Alegría	65cm × 65cm by Santiago Dotor

Flag adopted 1940, confirmed 1945, no longer used after 20th November 1975, abolished 21st January 1977

Description

See also:

Description

The flag that Generalissimo Franco used as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was "purpure a bend engouled of dragon-wolves (dragantes lobos), all or, between the Pillars of Hercules proper, crowned with an open royal crown that in sinister chief and imperially crowned that in dexter base".

Juan Morales, 10 April 1999

Smith 1975 says that Franco used "an old cavalry guidon" as his personal flag. This is wrong. The flag was old indeed, being the Banda Real de Castilla (Royal Bend of Castile), that is, the personal flag of the kings of Castile (also used later on by the Spanish Hapsburg kings). Its primitive origin dates back to the times when Castile was only an Earldom, and the Count of Castile used "Gules a bend Or" as his coat-of-arms, before the canting arms of "Gules a castle triple-towered Or masoned Sable windows and gate Azure" were adopted. Smith's reference to "cavalry" probably derives from the fact that Franco's positional flag was termed in Spanish guión which nowadays indicates a personal flag of a chief-of-state.

Santiago Dotor, 21 October 1999

There were two versions of this standard, as happens nowadays with the king's and the heir prince's standards:

One was the estandarte (standard) which was square and was used (in several sizes and qualities) as a flag on vessels, vehicles, buildings, etc. This is the one shown in José Carlos Alegría's GIF.
The other one was the guión (guidon) which had three