Fact Check: Pakistan flag at Westminster Abbey is for national day, not Holy Week
A video of London's Westminster Abbey flying Pakistan's flag in 2024 during its annual observance of a tradition dating back over 50 years has been shared online again with the false claim that it shows the church's 'holy week' commemorations in 2025.
The video was originally posted, opens new tab to X on March 22, 2024, by the Pakistan High Commission in London. It said the green and white flag was hoisted, opens new tab because a commission representative attended Evensong that evening, ahead of Pakistan Day on March 23.
Holy Week is the seven days leading up to Easter, and in 2024 began on March 24, the day after Pakistan Day.
In an email to Reuters, a spokesperson for the Pakistan High Commission said the video is a year old and that the flag has not yet been flown at Westminster Abbey in 2025.
Pakistan's High Commissioner and other officials have been invited to the church for Evensong on March 24 this year, a day after Pakistan Day.
Holy Week doesn't begin until April 13.
While the 'Flag of St. Peter' or the 'Abbey Flag' are typically flown over Westminster Abbey, which is the site of coronations, weddings and burials of British royalty, its website says, opens new tab there are also exceptions.
This includes when a national flag is flown on the day the High Commission of a Commonwealth member state is represented at Evensong.
Westminster Abbey did not respond to a request for comment. However, when Reuters previously addressed the misrepresented video, an Abbey spokesperson said at the time that it was a decades-long tradition to fly the flag of a Commonwealth nation when its high commission attends Evensong, marking the country's national day.
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. The video shows Westminster Abbey flying Pakistan's flag in 2024, unrelated to Holy Week in 2025.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.
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