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Embo, Sutherland (Highland Region, Scotland)

image located by F Smyth, 2 January 2026

Description of the flag
Independent State of Embo

Description of the flag

From: https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/news/new-embo-flag-unveiled/

The new Embo flag – a community flag representing this tiny Sutherland village – recently entered the Flag Registry. Its origins date back to 16 July 1988, when the village declared UDI as the 'Independent State of Embo'.

The flag was a horizontal tricolour of red, gold and blue. Red represents Embo’s Viking heritage; gold, the sun and sand; blue, the sea and sky.

On 16 July 1989 the village held the Embo Olympics, inviting countries whose flags use the same colours. The new Embo flag uses the same tricolour and adds a central image of a black anchor. This references a local landmark, originally washed up from a Prussian wreck in the 1870s. The full list of Pantone® colours is: Red 186, Gold 1235, Blue 300, Black.

F Smyth, 2 January 2026

Independent State of Embo

From https://www.historylinksarchive.org.uk and https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/:

Remembering the day Embo broke away from the UK, with its own currency and a pub parliament
In July 1988, the village of Embo in Sutherland declared itself a Free State in the fund-raising wheeze of the decade.

F Smyth, 2 January 2026