National Emblems of the United Kingdom

Introduction

Relevance of the topic. The United Kingdom, also called the U.K., consists of a group of islands off the northwest coast of Europe. These include England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Despite the political, economic, and cultural legacy that has secured the perpetuation of its name, England no longer officially exists as a governmental or political unit—unlike Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, which all have varying degrees of self-government in domestic affairs.
The United Kingdom flag is popularly called the «Union Jack» or «Union Flag». The United Kingdom flag incorporates the national symbols of three distinct countries, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The UK flag is made up made up of three different national symbols: St. Georges Cross, St. Andrew's Cross, and St. Patrick's Cross. The Kingdom Royal Coat of Arms, or Royal Arms for short, is a coat of arms that is used by the monarch. Other versions of the Royal Arms is used by the government and a separate version is for use in Scotland. England and Scotland remained independent countries with separate parliaments, royal courts, and flags until they fully merged under the Act of Union in 1707. Queen Anne then adopted James I's symbolic flag as the national banner of Great Britain. When Ireland merged with Britain in 1801 to form the modern United Kingdom, the British flag incorporated Ireland's cross of Saint Patrick to create the modern Union Jack.
All parts of United Kingdom has their own national flowers. England has the rose, Wales – the daffodil, Scotland – the thistle and Northern Ireland – the shamrock.
The purpose of the work is to consider the National Emblems of the United Kingdom.
Tasks of the work:
-consider the origin and history of the British flag.
- learn the national symbols of England.



1. Brit history. The British Flag — Origin and History

The national flag of the United Kingdom, sometimes called the Union Jack, is made up of three crosses:
The Cross of Saint George (The Patron Saint of England).
The Cross of Saint Andrew (The Patron Saint of Scotland).
The Cross of Saint Patrick (The Patron Saint of Ireland).
«The first Union Jack flag dates back to 1606 when the flags of England and Scotland were combined. Before that date, the countries of England and Scotland were independent countries. The present flag was created in 1801 when the Cross of Saint Patrick was added. It wasn't until Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom in 1801 that Saint Patrick's Cross was added to the flag, represented by the diagonal red cross on a white background» .
Each of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom has their own symbols, featured prominently on their flags as well as their coats of arms. England is foremost represented by three lions. These came about from the coat of arms for King Richard I, also known as the Lionheart. His successors continued to use this symbol, combining it with the fleur-de-lis to represent lands in northern France claimed by England until King George III finally gave up the claim and so dropped those symbols. Meanwhile, King William I of Scotland adopted the rampant red lion as his heraldic symbol. It eventually came to not just represent him, but as his successors adopted it, all of Scotland. Both of these lions are regularly seen on alternate flags for England and Scotland.
Ireland’s coat of arms features a harp prominently, gold with silver strings on a blue field. History says that evidence of this symbol as the herald of the King of Ireland goes back to the 12th Century. Supposedly, an Irish king named David took the harp as his symbol as an homage to the Biblical King David. Irish lore also purports to tell the story of a chief named Dagda who owned a harp that could make his audience