GIVE someone a flagpole and they’ll want to fly a flag. It is not, however, quite as simple as that.

With the ownership of a flagpole comes the responsibility to follow the complicated minefield of flag etiquette.

Flying a flag is not a straightforward act of hoisting it skywards. Whether it can or cannot be flown depends on which flag it is and what it represents, as property developer Alexander Burnett has discovered.

Mr Burnett has got the Bailiff, Michael Birt, into a flap by flying the Royal Standard from his new development, Balmoral Apartments in Clarendon Road. Mr Burnett told the media that he couldn’t see what all the fuss was about, or why such a busy man as the Island’s Bailiff was getting so upset about his efforts to inject a bit of class into a St Helier backwater.

What Mr Burnett fails to appreciate is that the Royal Standard has a unique status among British and Commonwealth flags in countries where the Queen is head of state. It is not a pretty flag designed to spruce up an area or add value to a property; the Royal Standard represents the Sovereign of the realm.

It is flown only when the Sovereign is in residence in one of the Royal palaces, on the Queen’s car when she is on an official journey, or on an aircraft of the her flight while it is on the ground. When the Royal Yacht Britannia was in service the Royal Standard was flown only when the Queen was on board.

It may also be flown on any building, private or official but not ecclesiastical, when the Queen is present, if the owner request to do so through the appropriate channels. When the Queen visits the Houses of Parliament it is traditionally flown from the Victoria Tower.

The Royal Standard may not be used by any other member of the Royal Family (each has their own standard, anyway) and most certainly not by any other person of any form or description.

As Balmoral Apartments is not a Royal palace and the Queen does not reside there, it is right and proper that the Bailiff fights the official corner and insists on its removal from the lofty heights of Clarendon Road.

No doubt there are many Islanders who agree with Mr Burnett that this is a storm in a teacup and Mr Birt should be concerning himself with more pressing matters. It is, after all, only a flag, so why all the bother?

There is no denying that the Royal Family is surrounding by a complex web of outdated and sycophantic do’s and don’ts that are frankly incongruous with modern society, but it is the principle that is at stake. It is not just an argument about the act of flying the Royal Standard, but the accepted standards that bind a people into a nation.

The Americans are great flag flyers; they wear the Stars and Stripes on their sleeves and hoist it high on every conceivable occasion. But even in the ‘land of the free’, where government is kept at arm’s length – as President Barrack Obama is discovering as he tries to push through his reform of America’s health system – the nation’s flag is treated with the utmost respect.

A presidential predecessor of Obama, Woodrow Wilson, summed up any nation’s attitude to its flag when he said: ‘The things that the flag stands for were created by the experiences of a great people. Everything that it stands for was written by their lives. The flag is the embodiment not of sentiment, but of
history.’

That is why countries have codes and regulations (etiquette) formalised in law that define how national flags should be handled, displayed and cared for. These codes also include a list of dates throughout the year when a national flag should be flown on government buildings.

Jersey takes the lead from the UK, with the notable addition of Liberation Day, and it is the Bailiff – by command of the Queen – who requests when flags should be flown or flown at half-mast.

In the Island there are two flags that may be flown: the Union Flag and the Jersey flag, which was granted Royal Warrant in 1980. When the two are flown together, precedence should generally be given to the Jersey flag, as it was granted by Royal Decree to the people of Jersey.

Our flag etiquette doesn’t end there, so if you are keeping up, here are a few more rules to remember.

Flags should be flown from 8 am to sunset on the appointed days or other special occasions, as requested by the Bailiff. They may be flown on any other day, as is becoming increasingly popular as the number of private flagpoles proliferates, but not the day before or after an official date, in order not to dilute the significance of the occasion.

Flags should not be left flying for 24 hours unless from a government building or with permission if the flagpole is illuminated.

As for tatty flags – as is so often the case with the sorry Union Flag that flies 24/7 from Fort Regent – that is a complete faux pas: all flags flown must be in pristine condition.

On the matter of flying flags at half-mast, this is permitted only following an official request as the result of the death of a member of the Royal Family, a political leader or other acts of national grief.

Having digested the complicated etiquette of when, how and where to fly a flag, it is clear that Mr Burnett is not the only Islander flouting flag etiquette. Flying a flag after sunset is an insult to the country it represents, so why do so many patriotic Jerseymen keep the Island’s flag flying in their gardens around the clock for weeks on end? As tragic as a death is to any family, it is not the occasion to hoist a national flag at half-mast.

Mr Birt may live to rue the day that he singled out Mr Burnett for attention because his office is now going to be mightily busy informing the hundreds of enthusiastic flag flyers who are likewise breaking the rules.

If rules are to be fair and just, they must be implemented without fear or favour.