In a tribute to the Revolution, the French presidency has restored the blue of the country’s tricolor flag to its pre-1976 naval hue.
The flags adorning the Elysée Palace have changed to blue a year ago, but it went virtually ignored.
President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing decided in 1976 to make the color lighter to match the blue of the European Union flag.
“For the tricolour flags that adorn the Élysée Palace, the President of the Republic (Emmanuel Macron) has selected a navy blue that evokes the imagination of the Volunteers of Year II, the Poilus of 1914, and the Compagnons de la Libération of Free France,” the Presidency said.
“It’s also the blue of the flag that has always flown beneath the Arc de Triomphe on November 11th (Armistice Day),” it continued.
The Year II Volunteers were men who voluntarily enlisted in the army in 1791, while the country was still recovering from the Revolution, to defend the country against a Prussian-led coalition.
Arnaud Jolens, the director of operations at the Elysée, is the driving force behind the effort. He revealed in the “Elysée Confidentiel” book by journalists Eliot Blondet and Paul Larrouturou, published in mid-September, that he paid Micron a visit in his office on the eve of France’s national day in July 2020, holding two flags of different hues of blue.
“‘By the way, I’m changing the flags on all of the presidency’s buildings tomorrow.’ The president of the United States smiles. ‘During the rapprochement with Europe, Giscard replaced the blue for aesthetic reasons, but the flag that all the presidents have been dragging around since then was not the true French flag,’ “The conversation between Jolens and Macron is recounted in the book.
According to Jolens, the cost of this symbolic operation was €5,000.
The navy blue flag had previously been in the Elysee before this date, having appeared in the President’s remarks since his broadcast address on December 31, 2018.
Macron also added a Lorraine cross to the presidency’s emblem in 2018, presumably in honour of General Charles de Gaulle, whose 50th birthday and the 80th anniversary of the June 18 Appeal will be remembered in 2020.
