Saint George’s Day 2027

Is St George’s Day a bank holiday?

Saint George’s Day 2027 is on Friday 23 April 2027. It falls on 23 April every year.

St George’s Day is England’s national day, the feast day of St George, the country’s patron saint. It is always 23 April, the date traditionally given for his death as a Christian martyr in about AD 303. It is not a bank holiday, so schools, shops and offices open as normal, but the day is marked with flags, church services, parades, school assemblies and civic festivals.

There is no single official organiser. The heritage charity English Heritage publishes the most reliable short history of the saint and runs family activities around the date, while the Royal Society of St George, founded in 1894 and with the King as its patron, leads the formal celebrations through its branches across England and overseas. This page covers who St George was, how he became England’s patron, what happens on 23 April, and how to take part.

No. St George’s Day is not a bank holiday anywhere in the UK, and it does not appear on the official list of bank holidays for England and Wales in 2026 or 2027. This puts England out of step with its neighbours: St Andrew’s Day is a bank holiday in Scotland and St Patrick’s Day is one in Northern Ireland, though St David’s Day in Wales is not. Petitions to Parliament asking for a St George’s Day bank holiday are raised most years, but none has yet gathered enough signatures to force a government response. The nearest days off are Easter Monday and the Early May bank holiday either side of it.

When the Church moves St George’s Day

Although the civic date never changes, the Church of England does not keep saints’ days in Holy Week or Easter Week. Its Rules to Order the Christian Year state: “When St George’s Day or St Mark’s Day falls between Palm Sunday and the Second Sunday of Easter inclusive, it is transferred to the Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter.” The Catholic Church in England and Wales follows the same practice. In 2025 that meant churches kept the feast on Monday 28 April rather than Wednesday 23 April.

In 2027 Easter falls early, on 28 March, so church and country celebrate together on Friday 23 April. In 2028, however, 23 April is itself the Second Sunday of Easter, so the Church will transfer the feast to Monday 24 April 2028.

Who was St George?

The real George was not an English knight. According to English Heritage he was a Greek-speaking officer in the Roman army who lived and died in the Roman Near East, executed for his Christian faith in about AD 303 during the persecution ordered by the Emperor Diocletian. His tomb at Lydda, now Lod in Israel, soon drew pilgrims, and the earliest evidence of his cult is a Syrian inscription from the mid-fourth century. He never set foot in England.

The dragon arrived much later. The story of George riding into the city of Silene in Libya to kill a dragon that was devouring the townspeople, and rescuing the princess offered to it, was added several centuries after his death. Images of George and a dragon survive from the ninth century, probably as a picture of good overcoming evil, and the tale was spread across Europe by the medieval collection of saints’ lives known as The Golden Legend. English folklore later moved the fight to Dragon Hill, the chalk mound below the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire.

How St George became England’s patron saint

George’s feast was being kept in England by the early eighth century, but he was one saint among many. Edward I promoted his cult, and in 1348 Edward III founded the Order of the Garter, England’s senior order of chivalry, under George’s patronage and with his red cross as its badge. The decisive moment came after Henry V’s victory at Agincourt in 1415, when St George’s Day was raised to one of the most important feast days in the English calendar.

The red cross on a white field was in use as the flag of England by the early sixteenth century and later became part of the Union Flag. The saint’s image endures in the George Cross, the civilian gallantry award created in 1940. Venice, Genoa, Portugal, Ethiopia and Catalonia also claim him as a patron.

What happens in the UK on St George’s Day

The day is marked more quietly than St Patrick’s Day, but the pattern is well established:

• Flags. The cross of St George flies from town halls, churches, pubs and homes. Many councils and the Royal Family’s residences fly it for the day.
• Church services. Cathedrals and parish churches hold services for the patron saint, often with civic dignitaries and cadets. The Royal Society of St George holds its annual wreath laying and cadet parade at the Cenotaph and Westminster Abbey on the Saturday nearest the date, and its City of London branch holds a banquet at Mansion House on 23 April.
• Civic festivals. The Mayor of London stages a free festival in Trafalgar Square on a weekend close to the date, with live music, food stalls, children’s crafts and the Pearly Kings and Queens; in 2026 it was held on Sunday 19 April. Towns across England hold parades, medieval fairs and morris dancing, and English Heritage sites run dragon-themed family days.
• Scouts. St George is patron of the Scout movement, and many districts hold a St George’s Day parade on the nearest Sunday.
• Food and drink. Pubs and restaurants put on English menus: roast beef, fish and chips, pies and cream teas.

How to take part

At school. St George’s Day fits neatly into history, English and RE lessons. Younger children can make cardboard swords and shields or a felt dragon using English Heritage’s free patterns, retell the legend in their own words, or design a flag. Older pupils can weigh the historical George against the medieval legend, or debate whether England should have a bank holiday. A red-and-white non-uniform day is an easy whole-school marker.

At work. Keep it light and inclusive: an English bake sale, a quiz on English history and places, bunting in reception, or a team lunch at a local pub. Teams with international colleagues often add a short note on who St George was, since the day is far less familiar abroad.

At home. Fly the flag, cook an English dinner, visit a castle or village fete, or read the legend at bedtime. As 23 April is also the traditional date of Shakespeare’s birth and death, and UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day, it is a good excuse to read something English.

Related days

• St David’s Day, 1 March, the national day of Wales.
• St Patrick’s Day, 17 March, a bank holiday in Northern Ireland.
• St Andrew’s Day, 30 November, a bank holiday in Scotland.
• World Book Day, the UK schools event in March, distinct from UNESCO’s 23 April date.