Adopted on September 28, 1917, this flag has five horizontal stripes of red, white, blue, white and red. The blue band in the middle is twice as wide as the other four. The unofficial motto of Thailand is 'nation-religion-king' and is represented by the stripes.  According to other sources the blue colour was instead chosen to symbolise solidarity with the Allies of World War I, who also had the colours blue-red-white in their flags. The Thai name for the flag is (Thong Trairong), which simply means tricolour flag.