Royal blue

"Royal Blue" redirects here. For other uses, see Royal Blue (disambiguation).

Royal blue is a deep and vivid shade of blue. It refers to a deep blue that, ever since 508 AD and the baptism of Clovis I, has been associated with the Kings of France, the French Monarchy, and France as a nation. It was the main color of the uniform of the French Royal Guards regiment, which were created in 1563 to ensure the King's Guard. Very soon, starting in the 17th century, it became the color of all the uniforms of the French Army, from the Musketeers, during the Napoleonic era, and all the way to World War I, until it was made obsolete as a color for battle uniforms by modern warfare and the need for camouflage.

Royal blue (traditional)
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#002366
sRGBB (r, g, b)	(0, 35, 102)
HSV (h, s, v)	(219°, 100%, 40%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(16, 44, 260°)
Source	The Mother of All HTML Colo(u)r Charts[1]
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Deep blue
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Royal blue (web color)
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#4169E1
sRGBB (r, g, b)	(65, 105, 225)
HSV (h, s, v)	(225°, 71%, 88%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(48, 103, 260°)
Source	X11
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Vivid blue
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Royal blue (Pantone)
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#3D428B
sRGBB (r, g, b)	(61, 66, 139)
HSV (h, s, v)	(236°, 56%, 55%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(31, 58, 264°)
Source	Pantone[2]
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Deep purplish blue
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Brightness

The Oxford English Dictionary defines "royal blue" as "a deep vivid blue",^[3] while the Cambridge English Dictionary defined it as "a strong, bright blue colour",^[4] and the Collins English Dictionary defines it as "a deep blue colour".^[5] US dictionaries give it as further towards purple, e.g. "a deep, vivid reddish or purplish blue" (Webster's New World College Dictionary)^[6] or "a vivid purplish blue" (Merriam-Webster).^[7]

By the 1950s, many people^[who?] began to think of royal blue as a brighter color, and it is this brighter color that was chosen as the web color "royal blue" (the web colors when they were formulated in 1987 were originally known as the X11 colors). The World Wide Web Consortium designated the keyword "royalblue" to be this much brighter color, rather than the traditional darker version of royal blue.

Cree Inc. uses the term Royal Blue to describe light emitting diodes in the wavelength range 450–465 nanometers, slightly shorter than the regular blue range of 465–485 nanometers.^[8]

Variations

Queen blue

Queen blue
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#436B95
sRGBB (r, g, b)	(67, 107, 149)
HSV (h, s, v)	(211°, 55%, 58%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(44, 43, 245°)
Source	ISCC-NBS[9]
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Moderate blue
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Queen blue is a medium tone of royal blue.

The first recorded use of queen blue as a color name in English was in 1926. Before that, since 1661, this color had been called queen's blue.^[10]

Imperial blue

"Imperial blue" redirects here; not to be confused with Imperial blue (disambiguation).

Imperial blue
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#005A92
sRGBB (r, g, b)	(0, 90, 146)
HSV (h, s, v)	(203°, 100%, 57%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(37, 57, 247°)
Source	Pantone[11]
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Moderate blue
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Imperial blue is recorded as an alternative name for the traditional royal blue color above.^[1] The name is also used for a distinct, medium blue color by Pantone.

In culture

Literature

• The color appears as the title of the book Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston in reference to the prince of England.

Auto racing

• In auto racing, royal blue (called 'imperial blue') is the traditional color of Ford and Carroll Shelby, and for 2012, the primary livery for Hendrick Motorsports' #48 sponsored by Lowe's.

Flags

• Royal blue is an official color used in the flags of American Samoa, Cayman Islands, the European Union, Galicia, Georgia, Israel, New Zealand,^[12] Texas, Tuvalu, Scotland and the United Kingdom.
• The Flag of the Philippines uses a royal blue field, which is normally displayed over the red field, to signify a state of peace. Reversing this arrangement (i.e. red above blue) transforms the flag into the nation's war ensign.

Australian rules football

• Royal blue is the primary colour of the guernseys for the North Melbourne Football Club.

Football

• Royal blue is the official colour of the shirts of Birmingham City F.C., whose nickname in consequence is Blues.
• Royal blue is the colour of the shirts of FC Schalke 04 and also one of their nicknames.
• Royal blue is the colour of the shirts of Everton F.C. and The Blues is one of their nicknames.
• Royal blue is the colour of the shirts of Glasgow Rangers F.C.
• Royal blue is the traditional colour of GNK Dinamo Zagreb and is also one of their nicknames (Modri, Plavi in the Croatian language).

American football

• Royal blue is the primary color of the uniforms for the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams of the NFL.

Ice hockey

• Royal blue is the primary color of the uniforms for many NHL teams, including the Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, and Vancouver Canucks.

Uniforms

• When, in 2008, the United States Transportation Security Administration changed the color of airport screener uniforms from white to royal blue, they found that it made the work of the airport screeners easier because airline passengers became more compliant, apparently because by wearing blue, the airport screeners came to be perceived more as authority figures.^[13]

University

• Imperial blue is the brand colour of the Imperial College London, which is used through all college communications.
• Royal blue is the brand colour of Yonsei University, used in its emblem, flag, and various university designs.

See also

• Cobalt blue
• Navy blue
• Shades of blue