Was the Ukrainian flag the only one flying at Prague Castle when Czech President Petr Pavel recorded his 2025 New Year's address there? No, that's not true. The Czech flag was also flying behind the president, on the other side from the Ukrainian one, but it wasn't always visible on camera, as confirmed to Lead Stories by the president´s press office. The Czech flag is also visible in countless images of Prague Castle found online by Lead Stories.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on January 2, 2024. The video shows a short excerpt of the beginning of President Pavel's televised New Year´s speech, with a Czech text overlay, translated by Lead Stories staff as: "Where is the Czech flag? I only see Ukraine´s flag. I switched it off after 13 seconds." The comments under the video in Czech, include, as translated:
This is a Ukrainian president, according to the flag, recall him immediately, we did not vote for him.
It was not a speech from our president but from the Ukrainian one. He is not a president of this country for me and never will be.
yes our flag is not there, I've zoomed in. so that's outrageous
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Jan 7 10:17:13 2025 UTC)
The 2025 New Year's speech by President Pavel was televised and broadcast (archived here) by Czech State Television broadcaster Czech Television on January 1, 2025. The full 11-minute speech can also be found on the president´s official website (archived here), and on his official social media accounts such as Facebook here.
At the beginning of the broadcast, the presidential standard (archived here), or the president's flag - used as a symbol of the Czech State - is shown during the titles; then, the president is seen coming through a gate, where the standard is also seen flying on camera. A Ukrainian flag is seen on the right (from the viewer's point of view), shown flying on a mast, while the top of another mast on the left (also, from the viewer´s point of view) is not visible on camera.
The presidential standard is one of the state symbols of the Czech Republic and also represents the country. The difference between the national flag and the standard is shown in the picture below.
(Source: www.hrad.cz screenshot taken on Tue Jan 7 10:17:13 2025 UTC)
According to the president's press office, the president's 2025 New Year's speech was filmed in the first courtyard of Prague Castle, which is normally open to the public, and "everyone can see" that the Czech flag has been flying there alongside the Ukrainian flag. "The Czech flag flies on the left, as seen from the Giants' Gate's view (i.e. the entrance to the courtyard from Hradcanske namesti), and the Ukrainian flag on the right," the head of the president's press office, Karolína Blinková, wrote in an email to Lead Stories on January 3, 2024. At Prague Castle, the president's flag (the presidential standard) is flown when the president is in the Czech Republic, at his official residence - the Castle -, Blinkova added.
The first courtyard and the masts with the flags can be seen from Hradcanske namesti before the entrance of Prague Castle. In the picture below it is marked with "1."
(Source: www.maps-prague.com website screenshot taken on Tue Jan 7 10:17:13 2025 UTC)
Prague Castle raised a Ukrainian flag in the courtyard, next to the Czech one, on March 7, 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine to show solidarity with the attacked nation. Photos of the event, including the Ukrainian anthem being played, can be seen on the Czech State Television's Facebook account (archived here). The Czech flag can also be seen in the pictures, flying on the mast next to the gate´s entrance, opposite the Ukrainian flag.
Various images showing the view of the courtyard where both flags are flying can also be seen on Google Street View (archived here). In images taken before March 2022, instead of the Ukrainian flag, the European Union flag is displayed next to the Czech flag.
The Ukrainian flag was raised at Prague Castle during the mandate of former Czech President Milos Zeman (archived here). It replaced the European Union flag that usually flies next to the Czech one there. In 2021, Zeman also temporarily replaced the European Union flag with the Israeli one (archived here) to express solidarity with Israel at a time when the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians escalated, in the past.
