The association of the red cross as an emblem of England can be traced back to the Late Middle Ages when it was gradually, increasingly, used alongside the Royal Banner.

[citation needed] There then follows a historiographical tradition claiming that Richard the Lionheart himself adopted the full red cross flag and the patron saint from the Republic of Genoa at some point during his crusade.

This idea can be traced to the Victorian era,[5] Perrin (1922) refers to it as a "common belief", and it is still popularly repeated today even though it cannot be substantiated.

The relevant passage read: The St. George's flag, a red cross on a white field, was adopted by England and the City of London in 1190 for their ships entering the Mediterranean to benefit from the protection of the Genoese fleet.

[11] Perrin notes a roll of accounts from 1277 where the purchase of cloth for the king's tailor is identified as destined for the manufacture of a large number of pennoncels (pennons attached to lances) and bracers (worn by archers on their left forearms) "of the arms of Saint George" for the use by the king's foot soldiers (pro peditibus regis).

The Wilton Diptych from the late 1390s shows a swallow-tailed Saint George cross pennant held by an angel in between (the then reigning) King Richard II (accompanied by Edward the Confessor and Edmund the Martyr) and a scene of the Virgin and Child flanked by angels wearing Richard's own heraldic devices.

Just as with the Marian persecutions (four years of counter-revolution after his natural death) all defecting clerics faced likely deprivation which was the loss of their office and if more broadly heretical, burning at the stake.

[8] Henry V, the history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written near 1599 includes the fictitious scene of the battle of Agincourt where the king's final rally is: Cry 'God for Harry!

The national flag of England is the Cross of St. George; and that, oddly enough, was splashed from one end of Dublin to the other; it was mostly displayed on shield-shaped banners, and may have been regarded by many as merely religious.

In Scotland, and in particular on Scottish vessels at sea, historical evidence suggests that a separate design of Union Flag was flown to that used in England.

A desirable variant (per an order from the Earl Marshal in 1938) is for the church to fly the flag with the arms of the diocese in the left-hand upper corner.

The flag of England does not figure in legislation, and its use by English nationalists is complex as these divide among those who are far-right as heavily opposed to further immigration and seeking to distinguish between residents in the jobs market and welfare state system such as the British National Party (founded 1982) and the English Defence League (founded 2009) and those who merely seek the level of devolution of Scotland, or Wales.

[33][34] This was following a proposal from Jeremy Burge of Emojipedia and Owen Williams of BBC Wales in March 2016,[35][36] The flag is implemented using the regional indicator symbol sequence GB-ENG.

Prior to this update, The Daily Telegraph reported that users had "been able to send emojis of the Union Flag, but not of the individual nations".