How English is the Flag of St. George?

 

It probably never occurs to these so-called 'patriots', of Britain First, that the Flag of St George, was originally the ensign of the Republic of Genoa and is associated with Richard the Lionheart’s crusades in the 12th century. 

St George, a Roman soldier and Christian martyr, had a Palestinian mother and was from Cappadocia in what is today, modern-day Turkey. He certainly wasn't English and he became the patron saint of England in the 14th century, replacing St. Edmond, the original patron saint of England. 

During his ten-year reign, King Richard I, spent around six months in England and most of his time was spent in the Holy Land, France, or imprisoned in Austria and Germany, where he was being held for ransom. Although he was born in Oxford, he didn't really speak Old English and he probably didn't understand the language, or would have thought it beneath him to do so. It was the language of the English peasantry and it would be incomprehensible to most of us living today. 

Richard grew up in the Duchy of Aquitaine in France. He's known to have spoken a mix of French and Occitan and he saw England as a source of revenue.  Both his parents were French. His father King Henry II, was born in Le Mans, in France and his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, had been the Queen of France as she was previously married to King Louis VII of France.