Yorkshire’s flag was promoted by the Yorkshire Ridings Society for several years as the county flag, having first appeared in the 1960s. It was registered by the Flag Institute on 29 July 2008 at the request of the Yorkshire Ridings Society. The White Rose has traditionally been a symbol of Yorkshire since the War of the Roses in the late mediaeval period. It is also reported that soldiers from Yorkshire regiments who had fought in the battle of Minden, in 1759, picked white roses from bushes near to the battlefields as a tribute to their fallen comrades. The rose distinctively appears on the flag with one sepal at the base and two at the top, suggestive of the letter “Y” of Yorkshire. The blue background has in the past been a considerably darker shade but a lighter hue appeared on the registered version. See alsohttp://www.yorkshireridings.org/news/flying-the-flag.html