King Charles’ silhouette to feature once current stocks have been exhausted
As four commemorative stamps in memory of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II have been unveiled, Royal Mail has also announced everyday stamps will be updated to feature King Charles III.
A silhouette of His Majesty will appear on new 1st and 2nd class Machin definitive stamps, as well as all those of other values, the new versions will enter circulation once current stocks featuring his late mother have been exhausted, as these remain valid for use.
Royal Mail will reveal the image and timings of the new definitive stamps and the King’s silhouette in due course, and the launch dates of some of the special stamps may change.
The company said: “In line with guidance from the Royal Household, to minimise the environmental and financial impact of the change of monarch, existing stocks of definitive stamps that feature The Late Queen and the special stamps which use her silhouette, will be distributed and issued as planned.
In memory of the UK’s longest-serving monarch, King Charles has approved his first stamp images, for the set of four new portrait stamps, which will on general sale from 10 November, with a presentation pack retailing at £6.95 and available to pre-order at www.royalmail.com/inmemoriam – during her reign photographs of Her Majesty featured on 81 special stamps approved by her, a gallery of British stamps featuring Queen Elizabeth II can be found here and can be seen in the video below.
Royal Mail ceo Simon Thompson said: “For the past 70 years every British stamp has been personally approved by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Today we are unveiling these stamps, the first to be approved by His Majesty The King, in tribute to a woman whose commitment to public service and duty was unparalleled in the history of this country.”
Because The Queen’s image is used in the design, the stamps in the issue do not need to include the silhouette normally required on special stamps to denote the country of origin.
The images feature Her Majesty through the years – 2nd class has a photograph taken by Dorothy Wilding in 1952, on the 1st class is Cecil Beaton’s 1968 image, with Yousuf Karsh’s 1984 picture on the £1.85 stamp, and a photo of HM The Queen taken in 1996 by Tim Graham on the £2.55 stamp – and were originally released in the Golden Jubilee stamp issue in 2002.
In line with past practice, all existing post boxes will remain unchanged following the death of a monarch, while those already in production or being prepared for installation will also retain the insignia of Queen Elizabeth II. Once these have been installed, new postboxes will feature the cypher of King Charles III.
And, as previously announced, following the introduction of barcodes to the definitive everyday stamps, non-barcoded definitive stamps remain valid until the end of January 2023. Full details of how customers can swap their non-barcoded stamps for the new barcoded versions, can be found here.
Top: The commemorative stamps for Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
