The foundations of the present ensign were laid down in the 17th century when the royal arms on the flag were modified. The necklace of the Holy Spirit was pushed into the background whereas the Golden Fleece was maintained. Charles III also added six blue lilies on gold and three lilies of gold along with five red discs. The king of that time made an interesting observation that gave birth to the coloring of the Spanish flag. He noticed that all other European nations had flags that were quite similar to each other. He wanted something that would make the Spanish flag stand out in battles and otherwise amongst the other European nations. Hence he ordered for variants of the flag to be developed and finally selected the tricolor flag with two red bands and one yellow band double the size of the red.

This new flag is the true ancestor of the modern Spanish flag. The only difference was that back then the civil and merchant marine ensign had five stripes instead of three. The successive governments that followed swayed back and forth amongst the colors and the design of the coat of arms on the Spanish flag. The current flag of Spain finally came to its last and final revision late 1970’s under the rule of Juan Carlos I.