The Welsh Flag: History, Meaning and the Red Dragon

The Welsh flag is instantly recognisable: a vivid red dragon stretching across a white and green field. Yet the design was not created at a single moment. It brings together medieval legend, Tudor politics, heraldic tradition and the modern recognition of the flag in 1959.

This guide explains what the flag is called in Welsh, why the dragon became a national symbol, how Henry Tudor used it and why Wales does not have a separate emblem on the Union Flag.

1. What is the Welsh flag called?

Baner means a flag or banner, while Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales.

The phrase Y Ddraig Goch also demonstrates two Welsh mutations. The feminine noun draig changes to ddraig after the definite article y, and the adjective coch changes to goch after a feminine singular noun.

2. What do the design and colours mean?

The modern flag shows a red heraldic dragon walking across a background divided horizontally into white above and green below.

Popular explanations sometimes say that white represents peace or purity and green represents the Welsh landscape. Those interpretations are memorable, but the stronger historical connection is with the green and white livery colours used by the Tudor dynasty.

The dragon is the central national emblem. Its importance comes from several overlapping traditions rather than one simple origin story: Roman military imagery, medieval Welsh literature, royal heraldry and modern Welsh identity all contributed to its place on the flag.

3. The legend of the red and white dragons

One of the best-known explanations for the Welsh dragon begins at Dinas Emrys, a hill near Beddgelert in Gwynedd.

In the medieval story, King Vortigern attempts to build a fortress, but its walls repeatedly collapse. The young Merlin reveals that two dragons lie beneath the ground: one red and one white. When the creatures are released, they fight until the red dragon defeats the white.

The red dragon is interpreted as the native Britons, while the white dragon represents the invading Saxons. The victory therefore becomes a prophecy of survival and resistance.

A related dragon story appears in the Welsh tale Lludd and Llefelys, while Geoffrey of Monmouth’s twelfth-century Historia Regum Britanniae helped spread the Vortigern and Merlin version more widely.

4. The dragon as a Welsh symbol before the modern flag

Dragon standards were used in the Roman world, probably influenced by the windsock-like draco standards of the Dacians. After Roman rule ended in Britain, dragon imagery continued to signal military and royal authority.

Welsh poets used the dragon as an image of leadership and courage. During his early fifteenth-century rebellion, Owain Glyndŵr used a golden dragon on a white banner. This was not the modern Welsh flag, but it shows that dragon symbolism already had a powerful Welsh political meaning.

Over time, different dragons appeared in different colours, poses and settings. There was no single standard national design until the twentieth century.

5. Henry Tudor and the Battle of Bosworth

Henry Tudor was born at Pembroke Castle and drew attention to his Welsh ancestry during his campaign for the English throne. He claimed descent from Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon, a seventh-century ruler later associated with the red dragon.

At the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, Henry’s forces carried a red dragon standard. After Richard III was defeated and Henry became King Henry VII, the dragon was presented at St Paul’s Cathedral as part of the new king’s victory display.

Henry placed the red dragon against green and white, the Tudor livery colours. That combination created an important ancestor of the flag recognised today, although its exact design continued to vary for centuries.

6. From royal badge to modern national flag

The red dragon reappeared as a royal badge for Wales in 1807 and became increasingly visible in Welsh patriotic societies, public ceremonies and national organisations.

In 1959, following a suggestion from the Gorsedd of the Bards, Queen Elizabeth II officially recognised the red dragon on a green-and-white field for use as the Welsh national flag. That decision established the familiar modern design.

Welsh people were already using green-and-white dragon flags before 1959. One remarkable example was made by James Howell & Co in Cardiff for Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910 to 1913 Antarctic expedition.

The large woollen flag travelled on the Terra Nova and was flown at the expedition’s Antarctic base on St David’s Day in 1911 and 1912. Its upright dragon differs noticeably from the walking dragon on today’s flag, illustrating how the design was still developing.

7. Why is Wales not represented separately on the Union Flag?

The first Union Flag was created in 1606 by combining the crosses associated with England and Scotland. The present version dates from 1801, when the saltire associated with St Patrick was added.

Wales has no separate emblem within the design. By 1606, sixteenth-century legislation had incorporated Wales into the Kingdom of England, so England and Wales were treated as one political unit when the first Union Flag was created.

This does not mean that Wales lacked its own identity or national symbols. The red dragon continued to develop independently and ultimately became one of Europe’s most distinctive national flags.

8. What the Welsh flag represents today

Baner Cymru is flown at homes, schools, castles, civic buildings, festivals and sporting events. It is also an important symbol for Welsh communities and descendants of Welsh families around the world.

The flag can express national pride, support for the Welsh language, a connection with Welsh history or simply affection for Wales. Its visual strength comes from combining several stories at once: a mythical battle, medieval resistance, Tudor ambition and modern national identity.