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Historical Flags 1945-1977 (Spain)

Flag and arms of Spain, 1945-1977 - Images by Luis Miguel Arias, 4 July 2003

National flag
State flag (ca. 1938-1977)
Today's use of the flag

See also:

National flag

A flag regulation issued on 11 October 1945 and published one day later slightly modified the coat of arms introduced on 2 February 1938 by General Franco.

The arms were Quarterly, 1. and 4. Quartered Castile and León, 2. and 3. Per pale Aragón and Navarre, in base Granada. The shield surmounted by the Catholic Monarchs' coronet. Behind the eagle's head is a yellow disc and motto "VNA GRANDE LIBRE" [One Great Free (country)], between the wings and the tail is a batch of arrows and a yoke. The pillars are basically the same as before, but are crowned with two different crowns, and the bands with motto "PLVS VLTRA" [(There is) More Beyond (the Gibraltar Strait)] have just one part in front of the pillar and two behind. The waves under them are stylized in a different way. The arms stretch into the red stripes of the flag.

No other state flag was in use in the Franco's era after the Civil War. The "civil" version, without arms, was frequently displayed in schools and other buildings.
The flag continued being used after Franco's death (20 November 1975), a similar version with only minor changes in the coat of arms being approved in 1977.

Emil Dreyer, Željko Heimer, Jaume Ollé & Santiago Dotor, 3 October 1998

The newspaper El País published in Summer 1999 a series titled "Main characters of the 20th century." Issue 18, page 423, speaks about sports under General Franco's regime; to illustrate the subject it shows a picture of Real Madrid football team in May 1960, holding a flag apparently before or right after a match - perhaps after winning its fifth European Cup that year. Even though the flag is being held on a horizontal plane, instead of a standard flag it is a version apparently intended to be displayed vertically, as the coat of arms has its vertical axis parallel to the fly and not to the hoist. Also, the centrepoint of the coat of arms is in the middle of the flag, and not offset to the hoist as usually. The size of the coat of arms is such that it fits inside the yellow stripe. Approximate dimensions 2 m x 3 m.

Santiago Dotor, 14 September 1999

State flag (ca. 1938-1977)

Semi-official State Flag, 1945-1977 - Image by 王桁霽
located on Wikipedia by William M. Becker, 19 August 2026

Spain had a Franco-era “state flag” which bore the eagle/arms centered within the yellow stripe. It predated the detailed flag regulations of 1945-1977 which didn’t appoint a state flag – i.e. a national flag for civilian state use ashore (“Reglamento de banderas …” - online). Hence, reference sources have commonly overlooked it (e.g. Barraclough, Crampton, Kannik, Pedersen). But it was important.

Whitney Smith called it “unofficial” (Flags Through the Ages, 1975, p. 232 [smi75b]), but “semi-official” seems apt. It flew regularly at state buildings domestically, as well as colonial and diplomatic posts abroad, including the U.N. (Its closest parallels with a small, centered eagle, were military colors, state and air ensigns, and car flags for certain government ministers. In these, the emblem’s height was one-third of the hoist – and often surrounded by inscriptions or other adornments.)

Reference sources sometimes equate the state flag with the war flag/ensign, in which a larger eagle overlapped the stripes near the hoist. But the 1945 “Reglamento” appointed that design only for “warships, arsenals, maritime plazas, castles and fortresses, airfields, camps, and other military facilities.” I doubt that it flew at civilian state buildings, but I welcome photo evidence to the contrary. It’s well-attested for warships, but I’m unsure about the other armed forces. At least some garrisons flew the state flag instead.

Wikipedia has a state flag graphic along with links to photos – but labels it a “variant” of the war flag/ensign. Rather, it was an independently established, uncodified state flag. Several photo links are also included at Wikipedia.
Further photos attesting the state flag’s use and prominence. It bore the arms as decreed in 1938, 1945, and 1977.

(1), State Flag specimen (1945 model) from militariabcn.com - (2) Spanish Guinea, ca. 1960 from hypotheses.org - (3) Parliament, 1969 (General Franco announces Prince Juan Carlos as his choice of successor) from youtube - (4), U.N. plaza, ca. 1970 from ebayimg.com - (5) Spanish Sahara, 1972 from Wikipedia - (6) Embassy to the Netherlands, 1975 from Wikipedia - (7) Spanish Sahara, 1976 from efe.com.
See also:
P.M. Blanco funeral, 1972 from gettyimages.com - Gen. Franco funeral, 1975 from gettyimages.com

William M. Becker, 19 August 2026

Today's use of the flag

Erroneous flag in modern use - Image by Jesúsus Manuel Aceves, 27 November 1998

Right-wing supporters and football fans use nowadays several incorrect variants of the flags adopte in 1977, including the following mistakes:

The coat of arms is offset to the hoist, as happens with the current flag. Only military colours and rank flags - both square ) have a centred coat of arms.
The scroll around the eagle's neck should be red, not a Spanish tricolour.
The Pillars of Hercules should be at the sides of the eagle, not lying on its wings; the left one should have an imperial crown, the right an open royal crown.
The eagle should be "membered gules", that is with red claws, instead of black (scarcely visible in the images, though)
The ribbons around the Pillars of Hercules should be red instead of yellow
Smaller coat of arms, only slightly exceeding the size of the yellow stripe
The red ribbons holding the yoke and the arrows seem to be incorrectly depicted

Santiago Dotor, 27 November 1998