States Flag

The Statenvlag ("States Flag") is the name of the flag of the States-General of the Dutch Republic, the red-white-blue tricolour flag replacing the older orange-white-blue Prince's Flag in the mid 17th century. The modern national flag of the Netherlands, the exact colours of which were confirmed in 1937, is based on this historical flag. It also resembles the modern Flag of Luxembourg.

==History== The origin of the red-white-blue tricolour is not entirely clear; some sources suggest that it developed merely as a variant of orange-white-blue because the orange dye would tend to fade to red over time. However, there have also been suggestions to the effect that the red-white-blue flag might predate the introduction of the Prince's Flag in the 1570s. Thus, Muller (1862) suggested that the colours were taken from the coat of arms of the Bavarian house, the rulers of the county of Holland during 1354–1433, who used the Bavarian coat of arms quartered with the arms of the counts of Holland.