Flags from Réunion

As Réunion is a Department of France, it uses the national flag of France and officially does not have a separate official flag. There is, however, a flag of the Regional Council of Réunion, depicting a stylised representation of the island with the text “Region Réunion”. There are variants with five coloured squares, representing equality and diversity, at the bottom, and there is also a variant with the addition of the French words “Valorisons nos atouts” (Let’s value our strengths).

In 1642 France claimed the island and named it “Île Bourbon” after the French royal House. The Royal Banner of France or “Bourbon Flag” was blue with three gold fleur-de-lis (or fleur-de-lys), a common heraldic charge shaped like a lily. The French Revolution ended the French monarchy, and in 1790, a tricolour flag of red-white-blue was introduced. Four years later, the colours’ order was reversed to blue-white-red, and this remained the flag on the island, interrupted by British occupation between 1810 and 1814 and restoration of the Bourbon monarchy between 1814 and 1830.

There have been a few proposals for a separate flag; in 1984, François Saint-Omer of the “Mouvman Lantant Koudmin” (Movement, Understanding & Helping Hand, MLK), promoting Creole culture and language, designed a Cultural Flag for the island. In 1996, the Association for the Réunion Flag (APDR) proposed another flag, and in 2003, the Vexillological Association of Réunion (VAR)selected a flag depicting the volcano of la Fournaise with five gold sunbeams on a blue sky. The flag was designed in 1974, but VAR started to promote this flag, named “Lö Mahavéli”, in 2003. Although not yet officially recognised, it is, since 2014, flying outside or on top of many public buildings.