Prince Adalbert's 1849 Proposals (Germany)

Last modified: 2012-09-05 by pete loeser
Keywords: adalbert (prince) | cross (black) | cross (red) | cross (white) | cross: fimbriated (black) | quartered | crown (white) |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

• Introduction
• Proposals for the German Ensign
• Proposal for the Princely Council Flag
• Proposals for the German National Flag

• Proposals 1944-1949
• Historical Flags
• Index of all German Pages

Introduction

These sketches were discovered in the late 1960s. Prince Adalbert of Prussia proposed in 1849-50 a black cross (not Scandinavian-type) fimbriated white on a red field for the German Jack and a number of other cross-flags in the German colors. Many of them were rendered in black-yellow-red. One that I find quite pleasing is one proposal (he sketched several different designs) for the Council of Princes, a red cross with the two upper quarters in black and the two lower cantons in yellow, overall a narrow cross that doesn't touch the edges of the flag completely edged in white and a crown in each quarter. Source: Neubecker 1972.
Dave Martucci, 6 June 1998

Prince Adalbert was also the founder of the German Navy, as is described at the Bundesmarine Official Website.
Santiago Dotor, 1 December 2000

Proposals for the German Ensign

Here are some of Prince Adalbert of Prussia's proposals for a German Union or Jack. There is no known order of them. There are many more! Others involve a cross flag with saltire (Union Jack style) and multi-striped flags, including 9 stripes of red-yellow with a black canton bearing stars! Source: Neubecker 1972.
Dave Martucci, June 1998

A      B

C      D

E      F

G      H
All eight images by Dave Martucci.

"A" through "H" were the designs Prince Adalbert sketched for a German Ensign, while "P" is his idea for a Princely Council flag. There are no illustrations with the designations "I" through "O" — sorry for the confusion. The ensigns are labeled as they appear in his journal. However, the two missing illustrations were further described in Prince Albert's journal but not illustrated. These two were, I believe, his ideas for a German National Flag, with the three stripes associated with ensigns "A" through "F" and the quarterly design associated with ensigns "G" and "H."
Dave Martucci, 18 March 2000

Proposal for the Princely Council Flag

Image by Dave Martucci

This was the design suggestion by Prince Adalbert for a Princely Council flag. The ensign design appears in his journal.
Dave Martucci, 18 March 2000

Proposals for the German National Flag

Speculative Image #1 by António Martins		Speculative Image #2 by Pete Loeser

Note: There are two missing illustrations described in Prince Albert's journal, but not illustrated. They are described as a black-red-yellow horizontal striped flag or one with a quarterly yellow-red-red-black pattern.