Red dragon of Wales
The red dragon of Wales, Y Ddraig Goch: a red, winged, four-legged dragon on the Welsh flag of white and green. It was a badge and supporter of the Tudor kings and became the official flag of Wales in 1959.
Meaning
The Welsh dragon is the four-legged heraldic dragon, with bat’s wings, scales and a barbed tongue, drawn red. Fox-Davies records the red dragon on a green mount as the badge of Wales in the royal achievement, known as the red dragon of Cadwallader. The design of its flag, a red dragon on white and green, was officially adopted in 1959, the Flag Institute notes. The Flag Institute traces the emblem in Wales to the reign of Cadwaladr, king of Gwynedd, about 655.
Origin and history
The Flag Institute gives the legend behind it: Merlin’s prophecy of a battle between a red dragon, for the Britons, and a white dragon, for the invading Saxons. English kings fought under dragon standards, it notes: Henry III at Lewes in 1264, Edward III at Crécy, Henry V at Agincourt and Henry Tudor at Bosworth in 1485. After Bosworth, Henry Tudor added his family colours, green and white, to his red dragon flag.
The dragon was a supporter of the royal arms under Henry VII, Henry VIII and Edward VI. Elizabeth I, who liked gold, changed her dragon supporter to gold, and Fox-Davies reports that many Welsh scholars held the ruddy dragon of Wales should be ruddy gold rather than red. Fox-Davies also thought there was some doubt whether the royal dragon was Welsh in origin, since Henry III certainly used one.
The 1953 badge and the 1959 flag
In 1953 the Queen approved an augmentation of the Red Dragon Badge, which the government said had been appointed a royal badge for Wales more than 150 years before. The augmented version put the dragon on a green mound inside a ribbon reading “Y ddraig goch ddry cychwyn” (“The red dragon advances”). It did not last. On 23 February 1959, in a written answer to the Commons, the Minister for Welsh Affairs said the Queen had directed that only the red dragon on a green and white flag, not the flag with the augmented badge, should fly on government buildings in Wales and, where appropriate, in London.
Dragon, wyvern and the tail
Oswald Barron found little difference between the dragon and the wyvern in the Middle Ages; with the Tudors, who bore it as their badge, the dragon became a four-legged winged monster with a tail ending like a broad arrow. In English heraldry, Fox-Davies wrote, the two differ: the wyvern has only two legs. He also disagreed about the tail. The barbed tail of modern dragons, he wrote, is a fairly recent addition, and Tudor dragons had none. He drew the wings always as a bat’s. The Tudor rose, the dragon’s companion among Tudor badges, is on the Tudor rose page.
Where you’ll see it today
whatdoesthissymbolmean.comFlag of WalesWales’s flag, Y Ddraig Goch (“the red dragon”), is a red dragon striding across a field of white above green. The Flag Institute says the green and white were the colours of the Tudors, added by Henry Tudor to his red dragon flag after the battle of Bosworth in 1485, and traces the dragon in Wales to Cadwaladr, king of Gwynedd, about 655.Read next
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See also
Tudor rose, Wyvern, Coat of arms, Family crest, Tinctures (heraldic colours), Ordinaries.
Sources
- A Complete Guide to Heraldry, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, 1909 (Project Gutenberg ebook 41617), T. C. & E. C. Jack, via Project Gutenberg, Chapter XIII, Monsters: The Dragon, pp. 224–226
- Heraldry (1911 Encyclopædia Britannica), Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition (1911), vol. 13, article by Oswald Barron, Encyclopædia Britannica, via Wikisource, Beasts and Birds: Drake
- Welsh Flag, House of Commons written answers, 23 February 1959, vol. 600 cc121–2W, UK Parliament (Hansard), written answer
- Wales Flag, UK flags, The Flag Institute, page text
- Flag of Wales: a blood-red dragon on a field of green, Flag facts, by Alex Crouch, The Flag Institute, page text
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from curves and waves.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 10, 2026. How we research
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