The flag of Nova Scotia consists of a blue saltire on a white field defaced with the royal arms of Scotland. Adopted in 1929 after a royal warrant was issued, it has been the flag of the province since January 19 of that year. It is a banner of arms modelled after the province's coat of arms. Utilized as a pennant since 1858, it was officially recognized under primary legislation as Nova Scotia's flag in 2013. When flown with the flags of other Canadian provinces and the national flag, it is fourth in the order of precedence.
The Nova Scotian flag flying in Amherst, Nova Scotia.
A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross. The word comes from the Middle French sautoir, Medieval Latin saltatoria ("stirrup").
Coin of Theodosius II (425–429), showing the emperor with globus cruciger and with the same vexillum
Saint Andrew martyred on a decussate cross (miniature from an East Anglian missal, c. 1320)
Quarterly 1st & 4th: Barry of six [seven] vair and gules; 2nd & 3rd: Gules, a saltire vair (Henry Beaumont of Devon, d.1591)
Papal coat of arms for Pope Innocent VIII with the Keys of Peter saltirewise (Wernigerode Armorial, c. 1490)
![Quarterly 1st & 4th: Barry of six [seven] vair and gules; 2nd & 3rd: Gules, a saltire vair (Henry Beaumont of Devon, d.1591)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/BeaumontWillingtonArmsGittishamDevon.JPG/567px-BeaumontWillingtonArmsGittishamDevon.JPG)
