The flag of France

1. The flag of FRANCE

2. The national flag of France is a tricolour flag
featuring three vertical bands
coloured blue, white, and red. It is known to
English speakers as the French Tricolour or
simply the Tricolour.

3. Blue and red are the traditional colours of Paris, used
on the city's coat of arms. Blue is identified with Saint
Martin, red with Saint Denis. At the storming of the
Bastille in 1789, the Paris militia wore blue and red
cockades on their hats. White had long featured
prominently on French flags and is described as the
"ancient French colour" by Lafayette

4. Currently, the flag is 50 percent wider than its height (i.e. in the
proportion 2:3) and, except in the French navy, has stripes of
equal width. Initially, the three stripes of the flag were not
equally wide, being in the proportions 30 (blue), 33 (white) and
37 (red). Under Napoleon I, the proportions were changed to
make the stripes' width equal, but by a regulation dated 17
May 1853, the navy went back to using the 30:33:37
proportions, which it continues to use, as the flapping of the
flag makes portions farther from the halyard seem smaller.