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Antigua and Barbuda

by Mark Sensen , 15 November 1995
Flag adopted 27 February 1967, coat of arms adopted 16 February 1967.

Meaning of symbols and colors
Barbuda Peoples Movement
Kingdom of Redonda

Meaning of symbols and colors

The sun represents the dawning of a new era; red - the energy of the people; blue - hope; black, the African ancestry of the people. The combination of yellow, blue and white represent the sun, sand and sea.
James Dignan , 22 November 1995

Antigua and Barbuda's flag was designed by Mr. Reginald Samuels when Antigua gained "statehood" status in 1969, an art teacher in an Antiguan high school.
L. Jacobs II , 21 September 1998

Barbuda Peoples Movement

A few days ago I heard of the beginning of an independence movement on Nevis. In Barbuda (Antigua-Barbuda) the Barbuda Peoples Movement also pushes for independence. A Venezuelan newspaper published an independentist flag of Barbuda (red, black and blue), but it did not clarify if this flag is that of the BPM (Barbuda Peoples Movement).
Jaume Olle' , 28 July 1996

Kingdom of Redonda

by Ivan Sache , 19 December 1999

Redonda is a desert islet of 1.6 square km (only 1.3 according to Encyclopaedia Universalis) belonging to Antigua-and-Barbuda.

The Kingdom of Redonda was proclaimed on July 1865 by the Irish negociant Matthew Dowdy Shiel from Montserrat. He celebrated on Redonda with a group of friends the birth of his first son (and his ninth child). Rhum helped him to proclaim himself King of Redonda. The King abdicated on 21 July 1880 and his son Matthew Philip was crowned as King Felipe by the bishop of Antigua. The young King moved to London where he became a successful novelist, and never saw again Redonda. When he died in 1947, the young poet John Gawsworth became Juan I of Redonda and created an "intellectual aristocracy", giving nobless titles to famous artists such as Henry Miller, Lawrence Durrell, Dorothy Sayers and Dirk Bogarde. Juan I rapidly bankrupted (once again because of alcoholic beverages) and tried to sell Redonda to a member of the Swedish royal family, the transaction being cancelled by the British authorities. He finally gave the title to Juan II (Artur John Robert), who himself gave him to the current King Leo V, the history teacher William Leonard Gates. The Court lives in exile in London and meets in the Fitzroy Tavern, Guiness being the official beverage of the Court. The Kingdom release stamps, The Times of Redonda (official gazette). The motto is 'Floreat Redonda!' (May Redonda flourishes!)
There are at least five competitors to Leo V, including Robert I who wants to use the rock as a naturists' camp and an American who wants to proclaim the Republic.
The flag is horizontally divided blue-white-blue (2:1:2) with a golden crown in the upper blue stripe.
Source: Bruno Fuligni in Franciae Vexilla #16/62, December 1999.
Ivan Sache , 19 December 1999

I remember having read in FlagMaster (?) about a quite different Redonda flag, although with the similar "micronational" tone: IIRC, it is rather horizontal blue, green and brown...
Antonio Martins , 20 December 1999