The subsequent proclamation of Charles II., in 1663 (page 89), shows that this flag not only continued to be used on the royal ships, but that also all the merchant ships had adopted it and were flying the "Ensign Red" at the stern in the same way as on the Naseby, and thus it was that this flag, having become established by usage as the national ensign, was then confirmed in its position by the proclamation of the King.
21. Medal of Charles II., 1665.
Further confirmation of its use is given by the medals issued in 1665 by Charles II., which he granted to his followers in recognition of service. One of these is given in fig. 21. On the reverse is a ship in full sail. On the flag at the mainmast head are the letters "C.R.," being the abbreviation of CAROLUS REX, and intended to indicate that the flag was the Royal Standard; at the bow the two-crossed Jack, and at the stern the Red Ensign with the St. George Jack in the upper corner.
The place of distinction at the stern had been occupied, as under Charles I., by the Royal Standard of the reigning kings. To this position the Commonwealth ensign had been installed as being the ensign of the State, and then by the unpremeditated transition at the "Restoration" the Red Ensign succeeded to the post of honour as the ensign of the nation.
The story of this flag again exemplifies its harmony with the peculiar genius of the British constitution, for it attained to its position, not by a single verbal enactment, but by force of unwritten usage, and its gradual acceptance by the will of the people, after which it was confirmed by the Act of the sovereign.
It will also be noted in the drawing of the Naseby, and on the medal, that the Royal Standard of Charles II. is shown flying at the main. This was the position at which it had, under previous sovereigns, been displayed by the Lord High Admiral of the Navy to indicate his rank. The Earl of Warwick, who was Lord High Admiral under Charles I., continued to fly it at the main even after the death of the King; but when Warwick was dismissed from his post by the Commonwealth, the Royal Standard was no longer used as the distinction flag of the Royal High Admiral. When the Commonwealth ended and a new King returned, it was again raised to the place where it had been displayed by the last Royalist admiral.
At the present day the Royal Standard, being the personal flag of the Sovereign, is only shown to indicate the royal presence or that of some member of the Royal Family, or raised in recognition of some special royal day. On shipboard it is raised on the mainmast immediately the royal personages come alongside, and is lowered the moment that they leave, the national ensign being still displayed at the stern.
It was the St. George cross which had been placed in the upper corner of the Commonwealth ensign; from here it had passed into the Ensign Red of Charles II., thereafter borne at the stern on both merchantmen and men-of-war. In the paramount ensign of the nation the single-cross English Jack was thus carried from 1648 to 1707, when its place in the national ensign was taken for the first time by a two-crossed Jack, and then only by the first real Union Jack, the Jack of Queen Anne.
In all the series of changes mentioned in this and the previous chapter direct evidence is given that the "commonly called Union Jack" of James was only an "additional" flag; that having been considered the "King's Jack," it had not officially displaced the local national Jacks, and that, although it had superseded them as a single flag on the Royal Navy, it had never been introduced into the paramount and national ensign of the nation.