The national flag of Romania (drapelul național al României) is a tricolour featuring three equal vertical bands colored blue (at the flagpole), yellow and red, with a width to length ratio of 2:3.

While the flag has undergone multiple variations over the years, the overall design has remained fairly consistent, using the same colors and with similar placement of the bands relative to each other.

The blue, yellow and red are a documented common occurrence on the flags and coats of arms in Romanian-inhabited lands as far back as the 14th century.

[3][4] Upon creating a "Grand Principality of Transylvania" on November 2, 1765, Maria Theresa changed the Transylvanian coat of arms to a design that used red, yellow and blue.

[5] Contemporary descriptions and later reconstructions indicate that the flag of Wallachia during Michael the Brave's reign was made of damask, originally yellow-white but later faded to white.

[6] During the 1970s and 1980s, with protochronism receiving official endorsement, it was claimed that red, yellow and blue were found on 16th-century royal grants issued by Michael the Brave, as well as on his shields and banners.

[8] Historiographers consider this one of the earliest instances of the three colors being used deliberately together in the context of Romanian self-determination, with the meaning "Liberty (sky-blue), Justice (field yellow), Fraternity (blood red)".

In April 1848, the flag adopted by the revolutionaries was initially a blue-yellow-red tricolor (with blue above, in line with the meaning "Liberty, Justice, Fraternity").

Already on 26 April, according to Gazeta de Transilvania,[11] Romanian students in Paris were hailing the new government with a blue, gold and red flag, "as a symbol of union between Moldavians and Muntenians".

1 of 14/26 June 1848 of the provisional government mentioned that "the National Flag will bear three colours: blue, yellow, red", emblazoned with the words "DPEПTATE ФPЪЦIE" (Dreptate, Frăție or "Justice, Fraternity").

It differed from earlier tricolors in that the blue stripe was on top, the princely monogram was eliminated from the corners, as was the crown atop the eagle at the end of the flagpole, while a motto was now present.

[16] St. Luke’s Church, built in 1782-1791 in Sibiu, hosts a Romanian flag with vertical stripes that was flown at the national assemblies at Blaj on Câmpia Libertății during the Revolution.

[18][19] This theory is supported by a note from the revolutionary minister of foreign affairs to Emin Pasha: "the colors of the band that we, the leaders, wear, as well as all our followers, are not of modern origin.

Relating prince Cuza's May–June 1864 journey to Constantinople, doctor Carol Davila observed: "The Romanian flag was raised on the great mast, the Sultan's kayaks awaited us, the guard was armed, the Grand Vizier at the door...

[25] On 30 December 1947 Romania was proclaimed a socialist people's republic and all the ex-kingdom's symbols were outlawed, including the royal coat of arms and the tricolor flags that showed it.

The flag retained its colors and characteristics, the only difference being that it now included a redesigned coat of arms placed in the middle on the gold band, featuring industrial and agricultural symbolism.

[29] The Communist flag would officially be replaced in the immediate wake of the Revolution, on 27 December 1989, by the National Salvation Front with the 1867 version of the simple tricolor, which remains in use today.

Likewise, the flag of Romania is used as a standard on vehicles transporting chiefs of Romanian diplomatic missions and consular offices, in their official travels, according to the same customs.

Likewise, it must be raised for official visits undertaken in Romania by heads of state and of government, as well as by high political personalities representing the principal international intergovernmental bodies, at airports, rail stations, ports and on their various routes.

[citation needed] The Government is the only official body that fixes days of national mourning, on which the flag of Romania is lowered at half-staff.

[36] The flag of Moldova is inspired by the Romanian tricolour except that it has a 1:2 ratio, slightly different colors and the Moldovan coat of arms in the middle.

The flag of the minister of national defense is almost identical to its interwar predecessor, being a square tricolor with the letter M written in white in the middle of the blue stripe.

Other features of the military colours are a tie for attaching decorations, six sashes for the troops in the flag's guard and a protective cover of impermeable fabric.

The ensign is in turn identical to the national flag, being made of ordinary canvas in various dimensions, according to the ship's rank, size and place of hoisting.

Afterward, it was replaced with a 1:1 national flag with two crossed white anchors in the center of the blue stripe, similarly to the naval jack used between 1966 and 1989.

The standard of the Chief of the General Staff is a square Romanian tricolor with four white stars, one beneath the other, in the center of the blue stripe.

The ships' pennant is a horizontal piece of canvas in the shape of an isosceles triangle, with a 1:10 ratio, on which is printed the Romanian national tricolor.

The granting of the flag is done in the name of the Council of State of the Romanian Socialist Republic by a representative of the armed forces, respectively of the internal affairs minister”.

It consisted of an “ordinary canvas, in the shape of an isosceles triangle, with the base toward the attaching mechanism and with the flag colors and coat of arms of the Romanian Socialist Republic printed on both sides”.

The jack was “an ordinary square canvas, having printed on both sides the flag colors and coat of arms of the Romanian Socialist Republic.