The latest county to have a flag registered by the Flag Institute is Aberdeenshire. The flag was unveiled in in a ceremony at Castle Fraser on Saturday 22nd April 2023. Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, Sandy Manson, hailed the occasion as a “historic day”. The flag was selected by public vote following the submission of designs in a public competition. The winning flag was designed by local schoolchildren.
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The white castle represents both Aberdeenshire’s sobriquet as Scotland’s ‘Castle Country’ but also Balmoral specifically, whose royal association is referenced by the inclusion of a crown. The golden-orange colour recalls that of ripening barley, with the county hosting a quarter of the nation’s arable land, and whisky that some of this is turned into. The purple symbolises the heather on the mountains.
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Aberdeenshire becomes the seventh Scottish county to have a flag registered with the Flag Institute, alongside Caithness, East Lothian, Kirkcudbrightshire, Orkney, Shetland and Sutherland. In contrast, every county in England has a registered flag. Things are moving forward apace though in Scotland with flag competitions also underway in Banffshire, Berwickshire and Morayshire.