Change to French flag went unnoticed for a year

It's one of the most recognisable banners in the world, but it turns out a change to the French tricolour went unnoticed for a year.

President Emmanuel Macron ordered the blue on the flags along the Élysée Palace to revert back to its original darker navy shade in 2020, French media has reported.

The blue on the official flag was lightened in 1976 by then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to match the flag of the European Union, alongside which it is often displayed.

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Recent photos of Mr Macron speaking at official events show that now, the respective shades of blue clash.

Both versions of flags have remained in use in France, with the pre-1976 version having been kept by the French Navy.

Euro News quoted a Presidential Palace statement saying Mr Macron had reverted the flag as a nod to France's republican history.

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"The President of the Republic has chosen for the tricolour flags that adorn the Élysée Palace the navy blue that evokes the imagination of the Volunteers of Year II, the Poilus of 1914 and the Compagnons de la Libération of Free France," the statement said.

It said the same style of flag was also "always flown" under the Arc de Triomphe for Remembrance Day on November 11.

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The "Volunteers of Year II" are the people who joined the first French republican military in the chaos of the Revolution, when a European coalition invaded the nation and was eventually repelled.

The conflicts that broke out during the Revolution also saw the rise of future Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, a figure much-admired by Mr Macron for his historical importance.

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