based on western heraldic standards, was similar to the flags of other British colonies, including Canada and South Africa; its red field included the Union Jack in the upper-left quadrant and a Star of India capped by the royal crown in the middle of the right half. To address the question of how the star conveyed "Indianness", Queen Victoria created the Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India to honour services to the empire by her Indian subjects. Subsequently, all the Indian princely states received flags with symbols based on the heraldic criteria of Europe including the right to fly defaced British red ensigns. In the early twentieth century, around the coronation of Edward VII, a discussion started on the need for a heraldic symbol that was representative of the Indian empire. William Coldstream, a British member of the Indian Civil Service, campaigned the government to change the heraldic symbol from a star, which he considered to be a common choice, to something more appropriate. His proposal was not well received by the government; Lord Curzon rejected it for practical reasons including the multiplication of flags. Around this time, nationalist opinion within the realm was leading to a representation through religious tradition. The symbols that were in vogue included the Ganesha, advocated by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Kali, advocated by Aurobindo Ghosh and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Another symbol was the cow, or Gau Mata (cow mother). However, all these symbols were Hindu-centric and did not suggest unity with India's Muslim population. Early tricolour development In Europe, in 1579, during the Eighty Years' War, which established the independence of the Dutch Republic from the Spanish Empire, newly formed Netherlands adopted the first tricolour in the world, known as Prinsenvlag, an orange-white-blue flag. This flag symbolised independence. During the French Revolution, in 1790, Le Tricolore, a blue, white and red flag was adopted to symbolise republicanism (overthrow of monarchy). The flag of the Netherlands inspired the flag of France, which in turn inspired many further tricolour flags in countries around the world. Every country took to its own choice of colors to be represented in their tricolours. The partition of Bengal (1905) resulted in the introduction of a new flag representing the Indian independence movement that sought to unite the multitude of castes and races within the country. The Vande Mataram flag, part of the nationalist Swadeshi movement, comprised