The flag of the Kalmar Union

Kalmar Union

The Kalmar Union is a historiographical term meaning a series of personal unions that united the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway , and Sweden under a single monarch, though intermittently and with a population...

, also known as the Nordic flag, was derived from the Dannebrog

Flag of Denmark

The national flag of Denmark, Dannebrog is red with a white Scandinavian cross that extends to the edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side...

, bearing a Nordic Cross. It consists of a red cross, set slightly towards the left, on a yellow background. Any representations of this flag are recreations of what the flag is thought to have looked like. They are based on textual evidence, as there are no surviving flags or pictures showing its appearance.

The symbol of the Nordic countries

Nordic countries

The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...

 as a whole has been superseded, as the Nordic Council

Nordic Council

The Nordic Council is a geo-political, inter-parliamentary forum for co-operation between the Nordic countries. It was established following World War II and its first concrete result was the introduction in 1952 of a common labour market and free movement across borders without passports for the...

 uses a stylized swan as its emblem

Flag of the Nordic Council

The Flag of the Nordic Council is white, with a stylised circular motif of a white swan upon a blue disk. The Swan has enough wing feathers standing for the eight members and territories of the Council: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Åland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.The swan...

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From the mid-1990s until its refashioning in 2007, an identical design was flown as the Flag of Orkney

Flag of Orkney

The new official Orkney Community Flag was the winner of a public flag consultation in February and March 2007. In the flag consultation the people of Orkney were asked for their preferred design from a short list of 5, all of which had been approved by the Court of the Lord Lyon...

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This flag is very similar to that of the Swedish Church.