The UK's flags, anthem, patron saints and national days

The flag superimposes three crosses. The red cross of St George on white represents England. The white diagonal saltire of St Andrew on blue represents Scotland. The red diagonal saltire of St Patrick on white was added in 1801 on union with Ireland.

Wales is not represented at all. The reason is chronological rather than dismissive: Wales had been legally annexed to England by the Laws in Wales Acts of 1536 and 1543, so when the first union flag was designed in 1606 Wales was constitutionally part of the Kingdom of England and had no separate representation to add. Proposals to incorporate the Welsh dragon recur and have never been adopted.

The flag is not symmetrical, and it can be flown upside down. The wider white diagonal band of St Andrew's saltire should be uppermost on the side nearest the flagpole. Flying it inverted was once a distress signal and is now mostly just an error.

'Union Flag' and 'Union Jack' are both correct in ordinary use. The claim that 'Jack' is only correct at sea is a widely repeated rule with no authoritative basis, and the Flag Institute treats the terms as interchangeable.

England flies the St George's Cross, a red cross on white, adopted from the crusading period and used as England's flag since the Middle Ages.

Scotland flies the Saltire, a white diagonal cross on blue, traditionally dated to the ninth century and among the oldest national flags still in use.

Wales flies Y Ddraig Goch, the red dragon on a green and white field, formally adopted in 1959. It is the only one of the four not incorporated into the Union Flag, and its absence is a recurring point of complaint.

Northern Ireland has no official flag of its own. The former Ulster Banner, used by the devolved government until 1972, has no current official status and its use is politically contested. In official contexts the Union Flag is used. Sporting bodies vary — some Northern Irish teams compete under the Ulster Banner, others under all-Ireland flags, depending on the sport's organising structure.

God Save the King is the national anthem by long-standing custom rather than by any Act of Parliament or royal proclamation. It has no official status in law, no authoritative set of lyrics, and no fixed number of verses — which is why only the first is normally sung.

It serves as the anthem for the UK as a whole and for England. The other three nations have their own anthems used in most contexts, particularly sport.

Scotland uses Flower of Scotland in most sporting contexts, though Scotland the Brave and others have been used. Wales uses Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau — 'Land of My Fathers' — sung in Welsh, one of the few national anthems sung entirely in a minority language. Northern Ireland's position is contested; Londonderry Air is used by the Commonwealth Games team, while other sports use God Save the King or all-Ireland arrangements.

Jerusalem, based on Blake's poem, functions as an unofficial English anthem in some contexts including cricket, and I Vow to Thee My Country and Land of Hope and Glory circulate similarly.

Each nation has a patron saint's day. St David's Day is 1 March in Wales, St Patrick's Day is 17 March in Northern Ireland, St George's Day is 23 April in England, and St Andrew's Day is 30 November in Scotland.

Only St Patrick's Day is a full public holiday, and only in Northern Ireland. St Andrew's Day is a voluntary bank holiday in Scotland — employers may but need not observe it. St David's Day and St George's Day are not holidays anywhere, despite recurring campaigns.

Bank holidays are not statutory holidays in the sense of a legal right to time off: there is no automatic entitlement to a paid day off on a bank holiday, and whether you get one depends on your contract. Statutory holiday entitlement is 5.6 weeks a year, which an employer may lawfully require you to use for bank holidays.

The number of bank holidays differs by nation — Scotland and Northern Ireland have a different set from England and Wales, and Scotland does not observe Easter Monday as a bank holiday. Additional one-off holidays have been declared for events including coronations and jubilees.

Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday in November, is the principal national commemoration and is marked by a two-minute silence at 11am, along with Armistice Day itself on 11 November.