Spain’s coat of arms is placed nearer the hoist on the national flag. On a normally proportioned flag, its axis is one-third of the flag’s height from the hoist, so it sits visibly toward the staff rather than in the geometric center.
The modern red-yellow-red design originated as a naval ensign selected by Charles III in 1785 from proposals by Antonio Valdés y Bazán. The offset position helped keep the arms identifiable when the flag was flying or partly unfurled, especially at sea.
The yellow central stripe is twice the height of either red stripe, and the arms occupy that middle area while extending across its boundaries. A common mix-up is confusing “hoist” with “top”: hoist means the side attached to the flagpole, while fly means the free outer edge.
Spain’s current coat of arms was established in 1981, while the constitutional description of the tricolor dates from 1978. Some simplified civil flags omit the arms entirely.