A Royal Standard Trivia Quiz

The Royal Standard of Norway was introduced on 15 November 1905 following the plebiscite that led to the choice of Prince Carl of Denmark as the new King of Norway following the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden. The standard is a banner of Norway's coat of arms, with a gold crowned lion on a red field.

The flag was referred to as the "ancient royal standard", as it is the earliest known Norwegian flag. The lion on the standard was originally designed by Norwegian painter Eilif Peterssen; although the government altered the design in 1937, it is Peterssen's design that is used on the Royal Standard.

The Royal Standard of Spain consists of a square banner with the coat of arms of the King of Spain in the centre. This means that the standard changes with the accession of a new monarch. On 19 June 2014, the standard of King Felipe VI was adopted; the banner changed from navy blue, with the coat of arms of King Juan Carlos I, to crimson with the arms of King Felipe.

The arms differ from those of King Felipe's predecessor through the removal of the red Burgundy saltire and change of the colour of the lion from red to purple.

Sweden's royal standard is a swallow-tailed version of the national flag, with a traditional Scandinavian tongue feature - this is where the flag has a v-shape cut out from the fly (the side away from the flagpole), with a third "tail" in the centre of the cut.

The standard also features the country's greater coat of arms on the centre of the cross. The present standard was adopted in 1905 following the dissolving of the union between Sweden and Norway, and is used by both the King and Queen. A variant of the standard, with the lesser coat of arms, is used by other members of the Royal House.

Monaco's princely standard is a white flag with the country's coat of arms in the centre. It is used both by the Prince of Monaco, who is the country's head of state, and by Monaco's government, and is flown from both royal and government buildings. The standard, alongside the country's national flag, was originally adopted by a Sovereign Decree issued by Prince Charles III in 1881, which was then formalised through the new Monegasque Constitution that was ratified in 1962.

In addition, the Prince also has a personal standard, which consists of the Prince's crowned personal cypher on a white background.

The Danish royal standard features a swallow-tailed version of Denmark's national flag, the "Dannebrog", with the greater coat of arms, the version of the national coat of arms used by the Danish monarch, on top of the centre of the cross. Although this has been the pattern of the royal standard since at least the 18th century, the coat of arms has changed on a number of occasions, which has led to the standard also changing, most recently upon the accession of Queen Margarethe II in 1972.

The princely standard of Liechtenstein uses the national flag as its basis, with the same halved blue over red pattern. The standard features the national coat of arms in the centre, while a wide yellow border is around the edge. The standard was adopted in 1982 as part of a wider law concerning the shape and size of flags used by the government.

The previous standard, a halved design of yellow over red, was retained and is used by other members of the royal house.

The United Kingdom's royal standard is a banner of the royal coat of arms, which consists of four quarters containing the individual coats of arms of England (three lions passant), Scotland (a lion rampant) and Ireland (a harp). Two versions exist - one with the English arms in the first and fourth quarters, which is flown in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, and the other with the Scottish arms in the first and fourth quarters, which is only used in Scotland.

The current version was adopted on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837.

Luxembourg's grand ducal standard consists of an orange flag with a version of the Grand Duke's coat of arms in the centre. The use of an orange flag stems from 1815, when the Congress of Vienna named King William I of the Netherlands, a member of the House of Orange-Nassau, was also named Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Although the male line became extinct in 1890, which split the union between the two nations, with Luxembourg passing to a different branch of the House of Nassau, orange was retained as the grand ducal colour.

The current standard was adopted in 2001, when Grand Duke Henri changed the coat of arms.

The royal standard of the Netherlands is a square flag, which is orange with a nassau-blue cross, representing the House of Orange-Nassau, the ruling house of the Dutch monarchy. The lesser coat of arms is featured in the centre of the cross, while in each corner is a bugle horn, which again represents the Principality of Orange, from which the royal house descends.

The royal standard in its present form was introduced in 1908. Slight modifications to elements on the standard were subsequently made upon the accession of King Willem-Alexander in 2013.

The Belgian royal standard is a square flag in poppy-red, containing the royal coat of arms in the centre, and the personal monogram of the reigning monarch in each corner. This design has been used since the reign of Albert I in the early 20th century, with the only change being the new monogram being added on the accession of the new monarch.

The current version was introduced in 2013 when King Philippe succeeded to the throne. Unlike previous versions, the current uses two letters in the monogram, indicating the French and Dutch spellings of the king's name.