List of Belgian flags

"Flags of Belgium" redirects here. For the current national flag of Belgium, see Flag of Belgium.

"The Belgian Nation chooses red, yellow and black as its colours" – article 193 of the Belgian constitution

Flags on a Flemish town hall with (left to right) the European, Belgian and Flemish Community flags

Flags on a town hall in Mechelen with (left to right) the flags of Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium, Europe and Mechelen

This is a list of flags used in Belgium.

National flag

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1831-present	Flag of Belgium	A vertical tricolour of black, yellow, and red with a 13:15 ratio. Technically the national flag, but rarely seen in the officially approved dimensions.

Ensign

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1831–present	Civil ensign of Belgium	A vertical tricolour of black, yellow, and red with a 2:3 ratio.
	1950–present	State ensign of Belgium	A vertical tricolour of black, yellow, and red defaced by a lion rampant ensigned by a crown, both sable (black), the lion armed and langued gules (red).

Military

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1950–present	Flag of the Belgian Army	The Army badge, crowned, on a white field
		Ensign of the Belgian Air Component	The Air Component badge and roundel on a blue field.
		Naval ensign of the Belgian Navy	A yellow saltire on a white field, bordered above and below in red and to the left and right in black, charged on the top with a crown above crossed cannons and on the bottom by a fouled anchor.

Navy

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1831–present	Naval jack of the Belgian Navy^[citation needed]	A vertical tricolour of black, yellow, and red with a 1:1 ratio.
		Pennant of the Belgian Navy^[citation needed]	rectangular black-yellow-red pennant with split fly
		Commodore of Belgium^[citation needed]	The rectangular tricolour of Belgium with split fly on the end
	1966–present	The flag hoisted by Belgian yachts registered in yachting associations approved by the Minister, also called the "Belgian yacht ensign"^[citation needed]	The National ensign to be hoisted by Belgian yachts is made of three stripes placed vertically, black, yellow and red, of equal width; the black stripe is placed at hoist.
	1999–present	Belgian pleasure boats often hoist the "European civil ensign"^[citation needed]	The European Union flag with the Belgian civil ensign in canton, with a white fimbriation.
	2016–present	The civil ensign, bearing a black lion, is flown by non-naval ships with a crew partly from the Naval Reserve.^[citation needed]	A vertical tricolour of black, yellow, and red defaced by a lion rampant, sable (black), armed and langued gules (red).
	2021–present	The Belgian Naval Auxiliary Ensign or the flag of Sovereignty ship under Belgian command^[citation needed]	A blue background with the Belgian Naval ensign in the top left corner and on the right middle a white fouled anchor with a crown on top
	1957–present	Standard of the Admiral Benelux

Sub-national

Regions

Flag	Administrative division		Adopted	Description
		Flemish Region	1973	Or, a lion rampant armed and langued Gules.[1]
		Walloon Region	1998–present	a red rooster on a yellow field
		Brussels-Capital Region	2015

Communities

Flag	Administrative division		Adopted	Description
		Flemish Community	1973	Or, a lion rampant armed and langued Gules.[1]
		French Community	1991–present	a red rooster on a yellow field
		German-speaking community	1990

Provinces

Flag	Administrative division		Adopted	Description
		West Flanders	1997	coveted background in 12 pieces of gold and azure, with a heart shield of gules in the middle over the whole
		East Flanders	1999
		Antwerp	1997
		Limburg	1996
		Flemish Brabant	1996
		Walloon Brabant	1995
		Hainaut	/	(This is the unofficial flag of Hainaut as the province does not officially have a flag)
		Namur	1953
		Liège	/	(This is the unofficial flag of Liège, as the province does not officially have a flag)
		Luxembourg	2018	Azure and white horizontal stripes with the crowned red lion

Flags of former Belgian provinces

Flag	Administrative division		Adopted	Description
		Brabant	1837	A golden lion (Leo Belgicus) on a black field.

Brussels

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1991–2015	First version of Flag of Brussels-Capital Region	A blue field with a yellow iris with a white border on top.
	2015–present	Flag of the Brussels-Capital Region
	1930–present	Flag of Brussels (city)	Emblem of Archangel Michael slaying the dragon

Community commissions in Brussels

Flag	Date	Use
	1989–present	Flag of the Common Community Commission
	1989–present	Flag of the Flemish Community Commission
	1989–present	Flag of the French Community Commission

Municipalities

Main article: Commons:flags of municipalities of Belgium

Royal standards

Monarch

The royal standard of King Albert II

Each royal standard for a monarch is a square rouge ponceau banner of the royal arms, personalised with the king's cypher in each corner.

Flag	Date	Use
	1831–present	The Belgian flag with the royal crown
	1831–1865	Royal standard of Leopold I
	1865–1909	Royal standard of Leopold II
	1909–1934	Royal standard of Albert I
	1934–1951	Royal standard of Leopold III
	1951–1993	Royal standard of Baudouin I
	1993–2013	Royal standard of Albert II
	2013–present	Royal standard of Philippe

Historical flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	800–888^[citation needed]	Imperial Orilflamme of Charlemagne	A 3-pointed green field with 8 golden crosses and 6 flowers.
	862–1797^[citation needed]	Flag of the County of Flanders	A yellow flag with a black lion in the center. "Or, a lion rampant armed and langued Gules"
	900–1477^[citation needed]	Flag of the County of Hainaut	A yellow quartered banner with two black and two red lions.
	980–1790	Flag of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, also of the Republic of Liège	A bicolour, with two equal vertical bands of red and yellow.
	1065–1797	Flag of the Duchy of Limburg	A white background with a red lion on it
	1183–1794^[citation needed]	Flag of the Duchy of Brabant	A golden lion on a black field.
	1482–1714^[citation needed]	Flag of the Spanish Netherlands	A white flag with the cross of Burgundy.
		Civil Ensign of the Spanish Netherlands	A horizontal tricolour of red, white and yellow, with the Cross of Burgundy in the centre.
	1781–1786^[citation needed]	Flag of the Austrian Netherlands	A tricolour, with three equal horizontal bands of red, white and gold with the arms of Austria.
	1789 –1790	Flag of the United Belgian States	A tricolour, with three equal horizontal bands of red, black and yellow.
	1830 –1831	Flag of the Belgian Revolution and the first Belgian flag	A tricolour, with three equal horizontal bands of black, yellow and red.
	1831–present	Flag of Belgium	A vertical tricolour of red, yellow, and black.

Colonials

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1908–1960^[citation needed]	Flag of the Belgian Congo	A blue flag with yellow five-pointed star.
	1936–1960^[citation needed]	Standard of the governor-general of the Belgian Congo	A vertical tricolour of black, yellow, and red, with a yellow star in the upper left canton on a blue field.

Other historic flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1883 – 1920	Flag of Neutral Moresnet	A tricolour, with three equal horizontal bands of black, white and blue.
	1897 – 1899	Masthead pennant of the RV Belgica during the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899	A white swallowtail pennant defaced with the intertwined initials "YC" in black and gold, and two red triangles placed along the hoist.[2]
	1722 – 1731	Flag of the Belgian Ostend Company (Austrian Netherlands)

Other

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1955–present	Flag of Europe	A circle of twelve 5-pointed gold (yellow) stars on a blue field.
	1957–present	Unofficial flag of Benelux	A tricolour, with three horizontal bands of Red, white and blue representing the Netherlands and Luxembourg and a Black box in the middle representing Belgium. With a yellow lion in the centre

References

1. "Histoire et mémoire(s) :" (PDF). crisp.be. Retrieved 7 Oct 2025.
2. "Pennant of Antarctic ship Belgica recognised as cultural heritage". Belga News Agency. 5 February 2025. Retrieved 21 October 2025.