Why was the British passport blue…and what is its history?
Governments can choose the colour and design they’d like their national travel documents to have
PASSPORTS are essential for getting holiday makers from A to B, but they can look very different depending on what country they are issued in.
Before Brits were waving EU-approved burgundy documents at the airport gates, the national passport was a navy hue.
According to Hrant Boghossian, the vice president of Arton Group, which runs the interactive passport database Passport Index, the shade of each national passport is derived from four main colours: red, green, blue or black.
Governments can choose the colour and design they’d like their national travel document to have.
He told Daily Telegraph that blue passports are symbolic for New World countries while burgundy red may be due to a “past communist history”.
Passport colours may also have a religious significance – in Muslim countries, including Morocco and Pakistan, passport are a different shade of green, which is believed to have been a favourite colour of the Prophet Muhammad.
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The choice of colour, while influenced by culture and history, can also come down to practically and availability.
The old blue passport was introduced in 1920 but was later replaced by the European Union-style in the late Eighties.
Details were handwritten into the 32-page document including the passport number, holder’s name, spouse and children details and national status.
One passport could be used for an entire family if they all travelled together.
The bearer's sex was not explicitly stated, although the name was written in with title, e.g. Mr John Smith.
The passport was valid for five years, renewable for another five, after which it had to be replaced.