Flag of the East India Company for his personal use as the King's Colours. The East India Company continued using their ensign with the flag of England. In 1668, King Charles II transferred control of Bombay to the East India Company. The Company then adopted a new flag including the King's Colours, as was shown when blue cloth, in addition to red and white, was requested for making a new flag for the fort in Bombay "if the King’s colours were to be kept there; 'if not, white and red will be sufficient'”. The King's Colours were later formally adopted as the flag of Great Britain
Flag of the Natalia Republic occupied Pietermaritzburg two months later. The flag was probably discontinued at that time or shortly afterwards. After three years of military occupation, the United Kingdom formally annexed Natalia, as 'Natal', in May 1844. The flag, and its design, passed into obscurity. They returned to public notice only after the South African Archives acquired the papers of Professor Ulrich Lauts in 1925. Back in 1847, Lauts had published a book (in the Netherlands) in which he described the flag as being in the colours of the Dutch flag (i.e. red, white and blue) and in the same order. "The white, however,