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Uvea / Wallis (Wallis and Futuna)

Kingdom of Uvea, Royaume d'Uvéa

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Flag of the Kingdom of Uvéa - Image by Zoltán Horváth, 19 December 2024

Presentation of Uvéa
Description
Variant flag
Coat of arms

See also:

Presentation of Uvéa

The Kingdom of Uvéa encompasses the whole of Wallis Island and the surrounding islets. The total area of the kingdom is 96 km² (37 sq mi) the population spread over three districts. The capital and largest village is Mata Utu, situated on the east coast. The chiefdom counts 3 districts and 21 municipalities.

Zoltán Horváth, 20 December 2024

Description

At the Wallis and Futuna website I have found a picture of the King (Lavelua) of Wallis (Uvéa) being decorated by the Prefect of the Territory with the National Order of Merit. The image features a nicely visible Uvéa flag just behind the Lavelua. On the picture, the Tricolour in the canton is bordered white, slightly smaller, and doesn't touch the upper and left edges of the flag (like Alo and Sigave), i.e. it is not properly a canton. I guess this is a mark of subdivision in the Territory.

Pierre Gay, 12 May 1999

I was wondering if this is only an example of a hasty flag manufacturer? Certainly the flag has some weight regarding the official position it is placed, though it would not be the first case that those who one thinks should know their flag best do not.

Željko Heimer, 13 May 1999

My guess is that the flag in the picture is the right one. I build my deduction on the following:

Željko's remark about the official position of the flag in this protocolar occasion is a fact that cannot be disregarded.
Alo and Sigave, which are the two other kingdoms of Wallis and Futuna feature the Tricolour the same way.
This flag is the flag of Uvea, better known as Wallis. The name of the whole territory is Wallis and Futuna, but is often referred to as "Wallis", thus creating a potential confusion between the territory itself and one of its subdivision; a confusion that we have already witnessed when people refer to the "kind of Maltese cross French red ensign" as a variant of the flag of Wallis and Futuna, when we know it is just the flag of Wallis island.

Pierre Gay, 13 May 1999

According to Lucien Philippe 1999, the Royal standard of Uvea is identical to the 1886 flag, with the Tricolor in canton, as for the other Royal standards.

To make things more complicated, there is also an Ouvea island in New Caledonia T.O.M., attached to the Îles Loyauté province.

Ivan Sache, 29 June 1999

According to the book L'Eglise catholique à Wallis-et-Futuna (1837-2004), by Georges Delbos, CEPAC ed. 2004, 328 p. [online copy] p. 324 Annex #6, the flags of Alo and Sigave date from 1988:
"According to a Note from the Territorial Service of Cultural Affairs dated February 27, 2001 -
Each Kingdom has its own [flag]: Wallis, Alo, and Sigave. The tricolor flag of the French Republic flies in front of the Royal Palace of Wallis, with that of Wallis flying next to it. [...] In 1981, during a flag-raising, for the first time, at the same time as the French flag, it was unofficially raised to the right of the Royal Palace. Since then, by tacit agreement, the two flags, national [i.e. French tricolore] and Wallisian, have been flown side by side, facing the King's palace."

Olivier Touzeau, 29 March 2025

Variant flag

Flag hoited in front of the King's palace in 2023 - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 29 March 2025

The flag hoisted in July 2023 in front of the palace in Uvéa has the French tricolore in the canton touching the edges of the flag as in the "Wallis-and-Futuna" territory flags: source.
But theoretically, the flag hoisted together with the French flag in front of the palace in Uvéa is the flag of the kingdom (French tricolore in the canton not touching the edges of the flag), as seen here: photo (2017 - Wikimedia Commons), photo (2021 - Facebook).

Olivier Touzeau, 29 March 2025

Coat of arms of Uvéa

Coat of arms of the constituency of Uvéa - Image by Zoltán Horváth, 20 December 2024

This page illustrates a coat of arms of the circonscription of Uvéa.
It is divided diagonally, first part is yellow with a three-legged bowl and palm trees, while the second part is red with a white cross pattée and a small French flag.

Zoltán Horváth, 20 December 2024

This is the coat of arms of the constituency of Uvéa ("Circonscription", French local administration), and not of the kingdom itself:
"Its responsibilities, traditionally assigned to municipalities, include local specificities relating, in particular, to the maintenance of the Mata'Utu Royal Palace and relations with traditional authorities. In addition to preparing budgets, the constituency carries out sovereign duties (enforcement of laws and regulations, issuance of identity documents—national identity cards and passports—organization of elections, maintenance of civil status, celebration of marriages, establishment of electoral lists, youth census for Defense and Citizenship Days, etc.), public sanitation, and certain local services (household waste collection, septic tank emptying, maintenance of roads and community buildings in villages, childcare assistance in schools, etc.). The Constituency also has a Council whose members are appointed under the conditions provided for by Custom. This Constituency Council is the preferred point for meetings and exchanges between its members and the administration. In this context, the Uvea Constituency is responsible for preparing the Constituency Council meetings."

Olivier Touzeau,30 March 2025