Y Ddraig Goch — the Red Dragon — is the national symbol of Wales and appears on its flag: a red dragon, passant, on a field divided horizontally green below and white above. It is among the oldest national emblems still in use anywhere in the world.
Where it comes from
The trail runs back at least to the Romans, whose cavalry units carried a windsock standard called a draco, and the symbol seems to have been taken up by the Romano-British leaders who followed them.
It appears in early Welsh literature and in the tale of Vortigern retold by Geoffrey of Monmouth: a king cannot build a tower because it collapses each night, and a boy — later identified as Merlin — reveals two dragons fighting in a pool beneath the foundations. The white dragon represents the Saxons and the red the Britons, and the red eventually prevails.
It was carried by Welsh princes including Owain Glyndŵr, and by Henry Tudor at Bosworth in 1485. Henry was Welsh-descended and flew the red dragon on the battlefield, then incorporated it into the royal arms — which is how a Welsh symbol ended up on Tudor heraldry.
The flag
The green and white field is the Tudor livery colours. The flag was granted official recognition only in 1959, when the Queen confirmed the current design as the Welsh national flag.
It is one of very few national flags in the world featuring a mythological creature, and it is regularly voted among the best-designed. It is also notably difficult to draw, and inaccurate versions on merchandise are a reliable source of Welsh complaint.
Not on the Union Flag
The Union Flag combines the crosses of England, Scotland and Ireland. Wales is absent entirely.
The reason is legal rather than deliberate slight: by the time the first union flag was designed in 1606, Wales had been annexed to the Kingdom of England for over sixty years under the Laws in Wales Acts, and was not a separate kingdom with a crown to unite. It was, constitutionally, already part of England.
Proposals to redesign the flag with the dragon resurface every few years — one appeared before the Welsh Assembly, and various designers produce mock-ups whenever the subject comes round. Nothing has ever come of it, and the omission remains a standing Welsh grievance that is half-joking and half not.
Where you will see it
Flown from public buildings across Wales, worn at rugby internationals, and on the shirts of Welsh national teams. It appears on Welsh government branding, on road signs at the border, and on an enormous quantity of merchandise.
The Welsh Guards carry it, and it appears in the badge of the Prince of Wales alongside the older feathers device.
The motto
The dragon is often shown with the motto Y Ddraig Goch Ddyry Cychwyn — roughly “the red dragon leads the way”, or more literally “gives impetus”. It appears on the Welsh royal badge granted in 1953, and is frequently shortened on flags and merchandise to just the dragon itself.