Last modified: 2002-03-29 by andré coutanche
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![[Guernsey]](../images/g/gg.gif)
by André Coutanche
Flag adopted 30 April 1985.
See also:
The flag is white with St George Cross, and a cross with ends pattée - a
cross which appears on a gonfanon of William the Conqueror
on the Bayeux tapestry. There is also a red ensign, with this cross in the fly.
Pascal Vagnat, 14 March 1996
The gold equal-armed cross overlaying the red cross was added to the flag in 1985 to distinguish it from England's. The gold cross also appears in the fly of the Guernsey Red Ensign. The Lieutenant-Governor's flag is as Jersey's except that Guernsey's arms are distinguished from those of Jersey (and England) by the addition of a golden sprig of leaves issuing from the top of the shield.
Guernsey has two dependencies: Alderney and Sark. Alderney has its own States
and Sark has a Court of Chief Pleas as its legislature. Both have representation
on the States of Guernsey. Herm also has a degree of independence as a feudal
tenancy leased from the States of Guernsey.
Roy Stilling, 14 March 1996
Sark does not have representation in the States of Guernsey but Alderney does have two representatives, (I know, as I am one of them). Secondly Herm is indeed tenanted, but does not follow the feudal system. For administrative purposes it is included in the town parish of St Peter Port and its inhabitants are able to vote for candidates in that parish for election as peoples deputies in the States of Guernsey. Finally, Alderney is not a Seignory. It has had a democratically elected States for many years and very few remnants of feudal law are left.
Bill Walden, Alderney States Member, 26 January 2002
Doctors in Guernsey seem to have had an interest in flags. In 1905 the Medical Officer of Guernsey wrote asking what was the correct flag to fly ashore. The Home Office replied that no particular flag was defined by warrant and that the matter was left to custom and good taste, adding that the Union Flag, or Union Jack, had been used indiscriminately for a very long period throughout Great Britain.
Then in 1924 a doctor at the Health Office in Guernsey wrote asking if the St George's cross flag could be flown from the stern of a vessel. The Naval Law Branch investigated and were surprised to find that, in Guernsey, due to an error, a white flag with a red St George's cross could be flown as an ensign.
In 1906 Guernsey had applied to the Home Office to use certain arms and al