The red-white-blue tricolour has been used as the Croatian flag since 1848, and thepan-Slavic colours are widely associated withromantic nationalism. While theBanovina of Croatia existed within theKingdom of Yugoslavia, it had a similar flag without the modern crown above thechequy. After theKingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded and Croatia became theIndependent State of Croatia, the crown was removed and a "U" was placed at the top left of the flag. Also, the first field of the Croatian chequy was white. AfterNazi Germany collapsed and theSFR Yugoslavia was created,Croatia's flag had a five-pointed red star with a yellow border in place of the coat of arms. The star was replaced by the coat of arms in May 1990, shortly after the first multiparty elections. The current flag and the coat of arms were officially adopted on 21 December 1990, about six (de facto) or ten (de jure) months before the proclamation of independence from Yugoslavia and a day before the Constitution of Croatia on 22 December 1990.[citation needed]
The national flag of Croatia is represented as theUnicodeemoji sequenceU+1F1ED🇭REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER H andU+1F1F7🇷REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER R.[3]
Hrvatska pošta released into circulation two commemorativepostage stamps featuring the motifs of the installation flag ofBan Josip Jelačić from 1848 and the contemporary Croatian flag on Croatian flag day, 5 June 2023.[5]