The Flag Unfurled

Did you know East Anglia has - or had - a flag? Not that it is seen much nowadays, or that it would be widely recognised even if it were flown; but it has been around for over a hundred years, and discussion about it does pop up every now and again.
One of the earliest references, dated to 1900, was printed in the Eastern Counties Magazine. The flag had evidently just been adopted by the East Anglian Society, whose committee - which included Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, of Elveden - had approved a design by George Langham. What made the moment particularly apt was that the upcoming Coronation of King Edward had been chosen for its unveiling, allegedly because of Norfolk's Royal Sandringham connection.
Actually, the design of the flag united the shield of St Edmund and its three golden crowns with the cross of St George; the three crowns, in turn, apparently echoing or suggesting connections with the Royal house of Sweden.
But interest in the design, and in particular interest in the three crowns, got a little over-excited at this point, with other theories surfacing that the crown trinity could actually be traced to an ancient Icelandic document. Meanwhile, the design could also be found in a pre-Christian tower at York Cathedral, while yet another Swedish interpretation attributed the three crowns to the three kingdoms of Norway, Sweden and Denmark, once subjected to one king.
It was at this point that the then curator of Norwich Castle Museum stepped into the ring. No, no, she said, the crowns have nothing to do with Scandinavia. They are actually the crest-coronets of the under-kings of the South Folk, the North Folk, and the Cambridge Folk, all of whom were subservient to the Lord of Wessex.
And there, by the large, the matter has rested, save for the fact that subsequent research has demonstrated widespread symbolic use of three crowns, although AJ Forrest - the East Anglia based writer who in 1951 (Festival of Britain year) undertook a 3,000-mile writing tour of the region - was largely content with the St Edmund connection. With a tenuous connection to Sweden, too.
I cannot ever remember seeing this East Anglia flag actually flying. But you never know, it might make a come-back if East Anglia ever votes to cede from the Union.