National Flag Day in Thailand Date in the current year: September 28, 2024

King Rama I, the founder of the Chakri dynasty, added a white chakra representing the ruling royal house to the state and naval ensign of Siam. His successor Rama II added a white elephant inside the chakra as a symbol of royal power.

The first official flag of Thailand was adopted by King Mongkut (Rama IV) in 1843. Mongkut was the first king of Siam to establish relations with Western countries, and a plain red flag couldn’t be used for diplomatic purposes because it was not distinct enough. The new flag showed a white elephant (without the chakra) on a red field. Several decades later, the flag was changed so that the elephant had royal regalia.

A new flag of Siam consisting of several horizontal stripes was first presented in 1916, after King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) had seen the national flag hanging upside-down. The new flag was symmetrical to prevent this from happening again. It consisted of alternating red and white stripes, with the middle red stripe being twice as wide as the others.

On September 28, 1917, King Rama VI officially adopted the current design of the flag of Thailand. It was identical to the previous one, but the central red stripe was replaced by a blue one, which was regarded as the auspicious color for the day the king was born. According to some sources, the color was also chosen to demonstrate solidarity with the Allies of WWI (France, Britain, Russia and the United States), whose flags had the same blue-red-white color scheme.

The national flag of Thailand (in Thai, it is called thong trai rong, which means “tricolor flag”) consists of five horizontal stripes: red, white, blue, white, and read. The middle stripe is twice as wide as each of the others. The naval ensign of the Royal Thai Navy additionally has a red circle with a white elephant in full regalia in the middle, and the naval jack of Thailand has the Royal Thai Navy emblem in the middle.

The three colors of the flag symbolize Thailand’s unofficial motto “Nation, religion, king”. Red stands for the nation of Thailand, white symbolizes the religions of Thailand (first and foremost Buddhism, but also Islam, Christianity, and others), and blue stands for the monarchy. They were standardized in 2017 on the occasion of the flag’s 100th anniversary: red #A51931, white #FFFFFF and blue #241D4F.

Thai National Flag Day was created shortly before the 100th anniversary of the national flag. The holiday is marked with flag-raising ceremonies held throughout the country. Although National Flag Day is an official holiday, it is not a non-working day unless it falls during a weekend.