Presidential Standards 1931-1939 (Spain)

Insignia del Presidente de la República

Last modified: 2011-06-10 by eugene ipavec
Keywords: spanish republic | president | alcalá-zamora (niceto) | azaña (manuel) | letters: 2 (yellow) | na | ma | coat of arms: quartered (castle: yellow) | coat of arms: quartered (lion: red) | coat of arms: quar |
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• Introduction
• Presidential Standard of Niceto Alcalá-Zamora (December 1931-April 1936)
• Presidential Standard of Manuel Azaña (May 1936-February 1939)
• Mistaken, non-existent variant
• Colour of the Presidential Guard 1933-1939 (Guión del Escuadrón Presidencial)

See also:

• Naval Rank Flags 1931-1939 (Spain)
• Rank Flags 1931-1939 (Spain)
• Historical Flags 1931-1939 (Spain)

Introduction

Madrid's Naval Museum has a new website with one or two pictures from each room, reachable through a clicable map. Room 15 shows three republican flags, two of them the presidential standards of Niceto Alcalá-Zamora and Manuel Azaña.

Santiago Dotor, 07 Jun 2000

The Circular Order of 5th May 1931 specified the distinguishing flag for the President of the Republic: "The rank flag for the President of the Republic shall be red with the national arms, with the initials of the name and surname in gold letters on each side of the arms.".

Luis Miguel Arias, translated by Santiago Dotor, 17 Apr 2002

Presidential Standard of Niceto Alcalá-Zamora

December 1931-April 1936

1:1
image by Luis Miguel Arias

Presidential Standard of Manuel Azaña

May 1936-February 1939

1:1
image by Luis Miguel Arias

Mistaken, non-existent variant

1:1
image by Jaume Ollé

According to Calvo and Grávalos 1983, illustration 564, Insignia del Presidente de la República 1931-1939, the flag described as "shield in red, ratio 1:1" is the car flag, the coat-of-arms is centred and its height is about 3/10ths of the hoist.

Santiago Dotor, 22 Mar 1999

The alleged presidential standard with no letters never existed, and the coat-of-arms is also oversized for that kind of flag. The Circular Order of 5th May 1931 by which the presidential standard was adopted clearly specified "red with the national arms, with the initials of the name and surname in gold letters on each side of the arms". However, the image in the accompanying chart shows no letters [leaving the blank spaces for whatever they could be, but also leaving place for confusion from careless researchers...]

Luis Miguel Arias, translated by Santiago Dotor, 22 Dec 2004