Flag of the Soviet Union statute on the flag was adopted which resulted in a change of the hammer's handle length and the shape of the sickle. A final modification to the flag was adopted in 1980 in which the colour was brightened to a lighter shade of red. The flag continued to be the official national flag until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Its imagery is now the basis for the flags of many communist parties: a yellow hammer and sickle on a red background. The flag of the Soviet Union consisted of a plain red flag with a gold hammer crossed with
Trooping the Colour and one weeks preceding the Queen's Birthday Parade respectively. The salute is taken, respectively, by the Major-General commanding the Household Division and the Colonel of the Regiment which is trooping its colour. On the day of Trooping the Colour, the Royal Standard is flown from Buckingham Palace and from Horse Guards Building, while the Union Flag (colloquially known as the Union Jack), is flown from public buildings as well as the flags of the British Commonwealth of Nations, especially in recent years. Participants and positioning: "Nos 1-6 Guards" - six companies of Foot Guards, each comprising 3 officers and 71