Flag of Guernsey of England to give way to William. The new flag's design was to symbolise that the islanders were of Norman descent but loyal to the English (and later British) Crown. In 1985 Queen Elizabeth II, Duke of Normandy, granted a Royal Warrant for the flag to become the official flag of Guernsey. Unveiled on 15 February 1985, the flag was flown for the first time on Liberation Day on 9 May, the 40th anniversary of the Channel Islands' liberation from German occupation during the Second World War. Thereafter, the Guernsey flag was used in the Grosse Rocque ceremony, replacing the
History of Guernsey and Jersey were given certain privileges as the English crown needed the Islands to be loyal, not least of which was the Islands neutrality, allowing trade to be pursued with France and England, even when these were at war. The trade creating revenue from taxes to pay for the Island garrisons. During the English Civil War, Guernsey sided with the Parliamentarians, while Jersey remained Royalist. Guernsey's decision was mainly related to the higher proportion of Calvinists and other Reformed churches, as well as Charles I's refusal to take up the case of some Guernsey seamen who had been captured by