Flag of the Netherlands The red-white-blue triband flag of the Netherlands as used in the 17th century is said to have influenced the Russian flag. With the revolution in the Netherlands in the last decade of the 18th century, and the conquest by the French, the name "Prince's Flag" was forbidden. The orange-white-blue was changed into red-white-blue (colours to which the French "liberators" were kindly disposed, analogous as they were to their own tricolour, chosen just a few months earlier) and in 1796 the red division of the flag was embellished with the figure of a Netherlands maiden, with a lion at her feet,
Flag of Ireland it did not recognise "Muirchú"'s flag. Irish-register ships could fly the Red Ensign until September 1939, after the outbreak of World War II, when a decree under the state of emergency was made, to ensure neutral Irish ships were not mistaken for British ships. Some ships flying the tricolour were nevertheless sunk by Germans. When the tricolour was hoisted over the passenger ferries in Holyhead their British crews went on strike. Five days later their owners transferred the ferries to the British register and the Red Ensign was restored. On the other hand, the Belfast to Liverpool ferry, British owned