Palatinate (colour)

Shade of purple associated with Durham University and the City of Durham

infobox color
| title=Palatinate purple
| spelling=colour
| hex=68246D
| source=Durham University The term has been used to refer to a number of different shades of purple. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as a "light purple or lavender colour", which is used for Durham (and Newcastle) academic hoods. A separate colour, 'palatinate blue', is derived from the coat of arms of County Durham. The name 'Palatinate' in both instances alludes to the historic status of Durham as a County Palatine.

Palatinate is widely used in the academic dress and sport kits of Durham University and in the faculties of medicine and law at Newcastle University (having been used for degrees in those faculties when Newcastle University was a college of Durham University). It was also formerly used (from 1894) in the BA and MA hoods of Trinity College (Connecticut). As used in academic dress, the colour is said to be "best described as 'a soft mauve. The choir of Durham Cathedral have worn robes of "the purple of the Palatinate" since the 1930s. The scabbard of the civic sword of the City of Durham (dating from 1913) is described as being "of purple velvet, the colour of the old palatine of Durham". Palatinate purple is also used as the name of some commercial products, including a photochromic dye from James Robinson Speciality Ingredients and a lipstick from Focallure.

The precise colour of palatinate purple used by the university has varied with time. Its most long established usage is in the university's academic dress and sporting colours, both of which use a significantly paler shade than that used by the university for corporate purposes. The palatinate purple used for the academic robes is said by Shaw (1966) to be British Colour Council No. 177 "Crocus" from the second (1951) edition of the Dictionary of Colour Standards. BCC 177 Crocus has CIE 1931 colour space values of X=0.308, Y=0.223, Z=0.469 with a brightness factor of 7.76% under CIE Standard Illuminant B. This is equivalent to CMYK: 21%, 48%, 0%, 20%, RGB 162, 107, 205 or HEX #A26BCD. The shade of purple used by Durham University in its corporate branding from 2019 is Pantone 255C with the digital translations: CMYK: 51, 91, 0, 34 and RGB: 104, 36, 109 (Hex: 68246D). and a shade closer to plum prior to 2005. The corporate branding prior to 2019 also included a lighter purple, close in appearance to the palatinate silk used in the academic dress, as one of the secondary corporate colours. This is Pantone 257C; CMYK: 15, 38, 0, 0; RGB: 216, 172, 214; Hex: D8ACE0. (equivalent to CMYK: 100%, 66%, 0%, 34%; RGB: 0, 56, 168; Hex: 0038A8).