Why is the Union Jack asymmetric?

[padanarm]

On the Union Jack the St Patrick cross (red saltire) is asymmetric. Why?

[TCL-MUMPING]

The crosses of St Andrew and Patrick alternate so that (in theory at least) one does not have more prominence than the other. That should also mean that their widths are equal but in practice, the Cross of St Andrew is often wider than that of St Patrick.

[padanarm]

Why isn't the white diagonal cross bounding the red St Patrick cross the same width around the flag?

[padanarm]

Sorry, missed your answer. So it sounds like the flag was designed by a committee.

Why use the St Patrick Cross, the red saltire? As far as I can tell, it has never been accepted as an Irish flag. Northern Ireland uses the red cross of St George, with the red hand thingy. So why the red saltire?

[TCL-MUMPING]

The original Union Flag was designed following the Union of Scotland and England to form Great Britain. That flag had only the Crosses of St Andrew and St George. There were two versions, one had the Cross of St Andrew on top of the English St George and the other was vice versa.

When Ireland joined to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Cross of St Patrick was added and it is that version that flies to-day.

With regards to Ulster�s flag, the official flag of Ulster is the Union Flag although the flag you described has been used previously and is still regarded as the flag of Ulster. That flag is in fact a version of what is the flag of the Province of Ulster which is a red cross on a yellow background and on that cross is a red hand within a white shield

[padanarm]

Thanks TCL, very informative. But there's still the question of why the red and white saltires are asymmetric. Why aren't they of uniform width?

[TCL-MUMPING]

With regards to the width of the crosses, I'm sure I've read in the past that the two crosses were the same width at one point but now, if the diagonals are six units wide, the proportions white:red:white are 3:2:1.