Fichier:Royal Standard (after 1837) RMG RP 27 24.jpg

English: Royal Standard (after 1837)

Modern pattern Royal Standard from HMY 'Alberta' 1863. The standard is made of machine-sewn silk, with the design printed. A rope and two Inglefield clips are attached for hoisting. The maker's name is stencilled on the hoist with the date and 'Royal Standard 4 1/2 x 3' (size of the flag in feet).

The royal arms: 1 and 4 quarter, gules, three lions passant guardant in pale or (England); 2) or, a lion rampant within a double tressure flory, counter-flory gules (Scotland); 3) azure, a harp or, stringed argent (Ireland). These arms were adopted on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. That year, the arms of Hanover were removed from the Royal Standard because the kingdom applied Salic Law (the throne could not pass through the female line), and Victoria's uncle, Ernest Duke of Cumberland therefore succeeded as its ruler.

The ‘Alberta’ was built at Pembroke in 1863 to replace the ‘Fairy’ as tender to the ‘Victoria and Albert’. With the establishment in 1846 of Osborne House, a private retreat for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Cowes on the Isle of Wight, the royal yacht tenders were mainly used for the twice-daily service from Portsmouth. This particular service occupied the ‘Alberta’ for most of its existence. Indeed, following the death of Prince Albert in 1861, Queen Victoria spent more and more time at Osborne. The ‘Alberta’ was broken up in 1913.