District of Columbia flag is based on Washington family coat of arms, not ‘three-city empire’

Three cities, two continents, one conspiracy theory. And the proof, allegedly, lies in one capital city flag. 

A TikTok video shared April 29 on Facebook made unsubstantiated claims about ancient links between London, the Vatican and Washington, D.C.. 

"Although geographically separate, the city-states of London, the Vatican and the District of Columbia are one interlocking empire called ‘Empire of the City,’" said the video’s narrator. "The flag of Washington’s District of Columbia has three red stars. One for each city state in the three-city empire." 

The narrator continued, claiming that the "corporate empire of three city states" controls the world economically, militarily and spiritually through London, Washington, D.C. and the Vatican, respectively. 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Washington, D.C.’s flag is white with three red stars at the top, above two red horizontal bars. But the stars do not represent the three cities identified in this conspiracy theory.

Advocates for District of Columbia statehood stage a rally and arrest event at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 8, 2023. (AP)

The flag’s design is based on President George Washington’s family coat of arms, according to the city’s website and the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 

The Washington coat of arms featured three red stars above two red horizontal bars on a silver background, according to the website for Mount Vernon, Washington’s historic Virginia home. The person credited with designing the flag, Charles A.R. Dunn, later wrote that it felt natural that the Washington coat of arms be the inspiration for the District of Columbia flag.

We found no evidence to suggest that the stars on the flag represent London or the Vatican. 

Featured Fact-check

Instagram posts

stated on November 12, 2024 in an Instagram post

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are “part of the World Economic Forum.”

The Vatican, in Rome, is the smallest independent state in the world and home to the Roman Catholic Church’s spiritual leaders, including the pope. The Vatican and the Catholic Church have long been topics of intrigue and the subject of conspiracy theories because of their history of secrecy and scandals.

Washington, D.C., and London are capital cities, not independent states. The phrase "Empire of the City" appears to stem from a book titled "The Empire Of ‘The City’: The Jekyll/Hyde Nature Of The British Government." The book centers London as the "The City," according to Goodreads, and is featured in the TikTok. 

But there’s no evidence to support conspiracy theories about Washington’s flag symbolizing three secret cities ruling the world. 

The stars do not represent London, the Vatican and Washington, D.C. The flag’s design was based on George Washington’s family coat of arms, which featured three stars. It does not legitimize an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory about these three cities.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.