THE UK Government have issued guidance on flag flying in the wake of the Queen’s death on Thursday.

They state that all official flags should be half-masted from as soon as possible today until 08.00 the day following the Queen’s funeral. Flags may be flown overnight during this period but should remain at half-mast.

Official flags are defined as national flags of the home nations including Scotland, crown dependencies and overseas territories, ensigns and ships’ colours.

They state that non-official flags, such as the rainbow flag, or the armed forces day flag should be taken down and replaced with a Union flag at half-mast. 

However, other official flags scheduled to be flown can be flown as normal, but at half-mast.

Half-mast means the flag is flown “a third of the way down the flagpole from the top”, with “at least the height of the flag between the top of the flag and the top of the flagpole”.

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On poles that are more than 45° from the vertical, flags cannot be flown at half-mast and should not be flown at all, the guidance states.

An exception to the rule is the royal standard, which is never flown at half-mast even after the death of a monarch. This is as there is always a Sovereign on the throne and it would therefore be inappropriate for it to fly at half-mast. 

The Union flag will be flown at half-mast on all Royal Residences.

Flags at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh were lowered to half-mast, along with those at the Scottish Parliament and at Scottish Government buildings.

Across the world, many other countries including Spain, Mexico, Australia and Brazil lowered their flags to half-mast as a mark of respect.