
Yoan Valat/Pool Photo via AP
- France changed the color of it's flag over a year ago and no one noticed.
- French news outlets revealed on Sunday that the blue third of the flag was made darker.
- The decision is a nod to a darker shade used during the French Revolution.
France changed the color blue used in the country's flag, and the detail went unnoticed for more than a year, according to multiple reports.
French President Emmanuel Macron decided in July 2020 to change the blue third of the flag to a more darker shade.
According to French news site CNews, the color change is a return to a darker navy shade that was used before 1976, when then-president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing decided to make the colors lighter to better match the European Union's flag.
The new shade is also a hat tip to the French Revolution and a "very political" attempt to reconnect with the past, French site Europe 1 reported.
Photos from May 2020 and August 2020 show a stark difference in the blues, especially when the flag is seen next to the European Union flag.

Francois Mori/AFP via Getty Images; Christophe Simon/AFP via Getty Images
There's been no administrative communication regarding the color change and no instructions have been given to replace any officials flags, the Europe 1 report said.
Last year, the new flag was raised above the presidential palace, but there was no celebration or any acknowledgment, the BBC reported.
Despite the decades-long switch to a lighter flag, the country's navy and other officials buildings have always used the darker shade, the BBC reported.