More Castles, set and miniature sheet - 21 May 2026

The latest Royal Mail celebration of the United Kingdom's Castles introduces some that we haven't seen before, except perhaps on the Castles series of Smilers Sheets.

Information supplied:

Across the extent of the British Isles, our landscape is studded with castles, great and small. Some survive as houses or visitor attractions, others as ruins, earthworks or just shadows traced in the lines and names of streets in 21st-century cities and towns. Today, castles are objects of curiosity, but for centuries these buildings were great monuments at the heart of political, social and economic life. 

This stamp set features photography of eight castles, from all four nations of the UK, dating from the Norman period onwards. The Miniature Sheet of four stamps celebrates four ‘Royal’ castles. These designs feature newly commissioned artworks by the British artist, Rob Ball. 

Castles Stamps details

The Castles. Scotland: Uruquhart and Stirling; England: Warwick and Bamburgh; Wales: Raglan and Pembroke; Northern Ireland: Dunluce and Dundrum.

Technical details

Designed by Stand Up the 50 x 30 mm gummed stamps have been printed by Cartor Security Printers by lithography in four sheets of 60 (30 se-tenant pairs), perforated 14.

Dunluce Castle, photograph© Adam Burton/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of the Historic Environment Division, Department for Communities, Northern Ireland and Randal McDonnell, Earl of Antrim;
Dundrum Castle, photograph© scenicireland.com/Christopher Hill Photographic/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of the Historic Environment Division, Department for Communities, Northern Ireland;
Raglan Castle, photograph© Maciej Olszewski/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of Cadw;
Pembroke Castle, photograph© Sebastian Wasek/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of Pembroke Castle/Pembroke Castle Trust;
Urquhart Castle, photograph by Karol Kozlowski© robertharding/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of Historic Environment Scotland;
Stirling Castle, photograph © John Carroll Photography/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind pennission of Historic Environment Scotland;
Warwick Castle, photograph by John Lamb/Getty Images, featured with kind permission of Merlin Entertainments;
Bamburgh Castle, photograph© SuxxesPhoto/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of Mr Francis Watson-Annstrong 

Miniature Sheet  

Miniature Sheet of four 1st class stamps showing Royal Castles - Caernarfon, WIndsor, Balmoreal and Dover.

Technical details

Designed by Stand Up the 192 x 74 mm sheet printed by Cartor Security Printers by lithography contains four 60 x 30 mm gummed stamps using newly commissioned artwork by Rob Bell.

Collectors Sheet

A collectors sheet contains all 8 stamps from the set with accompanying labels which could of themselves have been the stamp designs.  In fact the views of Raglan and Stirling used for the stamps are probably not as attractive as the labels.  The collectors sheet is self-adhesive.

Self-adhesive Castles Collectors Sheet of 8 stamps and relevant labels.

Products available

Set of 8 stamps, miniature sheet, presentation pack, first day covers (2), stamp cards, press sheet of 10 miniature sheets, and framed set, miniature sheet, and collectors sheet (£39.99 each).

First day cover filler card

Click on any image to see a larger version.

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Celebrating Britain Collector Sheet: Morecambe and Wise 14 May 2026

Royal Mail's second 'Celebrating Britain' Collector Sheet has been announced as celebrating the comedy double act Morecambe and Wise, and will be made available on 14 May 2026.  The first, issued in November 2025, celebrated author Jane Austen.

Information provided 

Morecambe & Wise—Eric Morecambe OBE (1926–1984) and Ernie Wise OBE (1925–1999)—were Britain’s most iconic comedy double act, celebrated for their work in variety, radio, film and especially television. They met in 1939 while working for impresario Jack Hylton and soon toured together in Youth Takes a Bow, forming a close friendship. Encouraged by Eric’s mother, they debuted as a double act in 1941, later adopting the name Morecambe & Wise.

After years perfecting their act on the variety circuit, they launched their first BBC series, Running Wild, in 1954. Their breakthrough came in the 1960s with ATV’s The Morecambe & Wise Show/Two of a Kind, followed by three feature films. In 1968 they moved to the BBC, where, alongside writer Eddie Braben, they created nine hugely popular series and legendary Christmas Specials, peaking at a record 28 million viewers in 1977. Stars such as The Beatles, Glenda Jackson and André Previn queued to appear.

Awarded OBEs and the Freedom of the City of London, they returned to ITV in 1977 for further series before Eric’s death in 1984. Ernie passed away in 1999. Their legacy endures through documentaries, rediscovered footage, stage tributes, statues, and centenary celebrations planned for 2025–2026, ensuring future generations continue to enjoy their timeless comedy.

Morecambe and Wise Collectors Sheet 

The sheet contains 10 x 1st class Union Flag stamps and is priced at £19.20.

No technical details were provided but we expect that this will be self-adhesive and printed by Cartor Security Printers.

 

 

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Last chance to buy - Royal Mail stamp issues going off sale soon.

We have been advised by Royal Mail that the following will be removed from sale on the dates shown.

The very popular Warhammer stamps come off sale at the end of this month: 31st May 2026.

Following this a further four stamp issues will come off sale on the 31st July 2026. 

• Weather Forecasting
• Viking Britain Standard
• The Age of the Dinosaurs
• 100 Years of Commemorative Stamps 

 

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Slogan postmarks for May 2026 - and other interesting postal markings.

Wait, you say, it's still April!  True, but the first May slogans will be in use very early, in fact the British Heart Foundation default slogan will have three phases by my calculation.

As it is currently in use the standard BHF slogan will start the month.  But with local elections long-planned for Scotland and Wales we can expect slogans encouraging the early sending of Postal Votes for the Scottish Parliament and Senned.  No slogans are planned for the on-off-on_again English local authority elections but that doesn't mean that residents of England will miss out.

IMP and iLSM explained.

IMP stands for Integrated Mail Processors and iLSM for Intelligent Letter Sorting Machines.  (You can see a brief video - and discussion about - the iLSM here.)

Although the iLSMs are 'intelligent', it is the IMPs which have the facility to determine (more or less) whether a particular slogan is applied, based on the destination address.  If a letter from Yorkshire is going to Wales it should get the Post Early slogan for the Senned elections.  If the letter is going to Scotland it should get the slogan for the elections to the Scottish Parliament.  Anywhere else and it should get the standard (in this case) BHF slogan.

However, all Scotland's mail centres are, ironically, equipped with iLSMs which means that if the Post Early slogan is invoked it is applied to ALL mail, including that to Wales, England, Northern Ireland, and internationally.  

Wales' mail centres only have IMPs so they should apply the 'appropriate' slogans.

2024 General Election voting publicity images

UPDATE 7 May.  JM has sent these black & white images from a third party showing the Manchester and S W Wales (Swansea) both dated 05/05/2026: 

Post Early to Vote Early S W Wales and Manchester Mail Centres 05/05/2026

UPDATE 12 May.  Thanks again to JM for a Manchester pair of slogans on IMP 134 (on last line of the block) showing the switching and the selection of the Post early to Vote Early slogan for the Welsh, Swansea SA2, address after using the default BHF slogan for the English, Stockport SK7, address in the same batch within 6 seconds of each other (20.44.10 and 20.44.16).

Two slogans from Manchester Mail Centre six seconds apart; one to a Welsh address and one sent locally so using the Post Early and BHF slogans 05/05/20026.

 

After the elections are over we will probably see a Mental Health Awareness Week slogan, but the BHF may fall in between, and afterwards.  (But who knows what will happen in Sheffield?) 

Last year's Mental Health slogan.

UPDATE 12 May:  Thanks to LT for the first report of the Mental Health slogan this year, from North & West Yorkshire.  

Mental Health Awareness Week slogan North & West Yorkshire mail centre 11/05/2026

 

I'll be out of the country from mid-May to mid-June so I shan't be able to add any images but do keep sending them. 

 

 

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OTHER POSTMARKS AND POSTAL MARKINGS

SS has sent us another copy of a branch datestamp, the Wokingham (Surrey) SID dates 28 AP 2026 

Wokingham Y self-inking-datestamp 28 April 2026

UPDATE 12 May.  JW has sent a couple of images this month.  The first is of the  counter datestamp of Boswell Drive, Edinburgh.   This is unusual as it is about the same size as others but doesn't have the Morse code border.  This was used on 15 April 2026.

Boswell Drive Post Office rubber datestamp 25 APR 2026

The second item is a fragment of a package sent with a 1st class stamp on.  I don't know whether the endorsement '2nd class Large Letter' was added before it was sent, but it was referred to Revenue Protection - presumably because it was too large for a basic letter.  

Just a reminder, a 2nd class Large Letter costs £1.55 but a basic (small) Letter costs £1.80.  So there is  no real loss in using an older 1st class stamp for the 2nd class Large service.  (We forecast that this would happen and that Revenue Protection would probably be involved.)  This receives the Birmingham datestamp and a boxed 

Revenue Protected

Treat as 2nd Class

handstamp. 

Revenue Protected Treat as 2nd Class applied at Birmingham Mail Centre May 2026(?).

 

 

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Remember, slogan postmarks appearing in May will be added to this post (although some won't be added until mid-June), so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing.

A reminder of what these monthly listings are for.

For each month I record the different slogans in use, plus the default slogan that is used when there is nothing else.

For each of these I try to record only one of each of the basic two types, plus any that are reversed on square envelopes, which normally only gives three or four.  

Occasionally a slogan appears with different line spacing in the same format.

I do not record multiple versions of the same as any of these unless I later get a much better example of one that I showed purely for the record, but which is otherwise not very clear.

The only exception to this, which doesn't seem to happen much these days, is when a slogan is used well out of time.  

I mention this only to avoid readers unnecessarily duplicating what has already been provided.

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Centenary of the Birth of Queen Elizabeth II, set, MS, PSB etc - 21 April 2026

Queen Elizabeth II was born on 21 April 1926 and so this year marks the centenary of her birth.  Royal Mail is marking the anniversary with a set of 8 stamp and a miniature sheet, plus a lot more merchandise.

For a younger person's view on this and other stamps marking the centenary, see 13-year-old Xanthe's Stamp Magazine. 

The stamps feature a selection of carefully curated photographs taken throughout her lifetime with the miniature sheet of four stamps reflecting her lifelong love of animals. 

The eight 1st class stamps are produced as a set of four se-tenant vertical pairs featuring black and white, and colour photographs spanning the decades of her life.  Each stamp has a portrait superimposed on a background image, some of which we may have seen before on stamps.

Details of the photographs were not provided in a form suitable for including here as text, but they can be seen on the FDC filler card here (click to enlarge).

UPDATE: My thanks to RB who has managed to process the data on the filler to reveal these details. We can't guarantee that it's 100% correct, but here goes:

Listed as portrait first then background.


Black & white stamps:  
Princess Elizabeth at the age of six, July 1932;  Members of the Royal Family with their dogs at Royal Windsor Lodge, June 1936. 
Princess Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, May 1944;  Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret giving their first Children's Hour radio broadcast from Windsor Castle during the Second World War, October 1940. 
Queen Elizabeth II in November 1955;  Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip after the Coronation, June 1953. 
Queen Elizabeth II during the Royal Tour of India, 1961;  Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles riding horses in the park of Windsor Castle.

Colour stamps:  Queen Elizabeth II during Trooping the Colour 1976;  Queen Elizabeth II during Trooping the Colour 1971. 
Queen Elizabeth II in the White Drawing Room, Windsor Castle, November 1987;  Queen Elizabeth II visiting Treherbert, Wales, April 1989. 
Queen Elizabeth II in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace, October 2001;  Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in the Gold State Coach during Golden Jubilee celebrations, June 2002. 
Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, 2022;   Queen Elizabeth II and members of the Royal Family arriving at The Eden Project, Cornwall, during the G7 Summit, June 2021. 

Miniature Sheet:  Princess Elizabeth with her pet dog, London 1936; Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle with one of her corgis, September 1952;  Queen Elizabeth II with a horse at Sandringham, 1964; 
Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, May 1997.

Part of FDC filler card showing details of photos on the stamps, etc. Click to enlarge.

Miniature Sheet

Technical details 

The 50 x 30 mm stamps, designed by Baxter & Bailey are printed in lithography in sheets of 60 by Cartor Security Printers, perf 14.   The stamps in the 115 x 89 mm miniature sheet are 35 x 35 mm (corrected) and perf 14.5.  All stamps have phosphor bands are on PVA-gummed paper.

Prestige stamp book

This 24 page publication, tells the story of the life of Queen Elizabeth II accompanied with beautiful photography throughout the decades. As Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II presided over a time of incredible change, acting as a constant source of comfort and stability to the nation. 100 years since the monarch was born, the Prestige Stamp Book pays tribute to Elizabeth II that reflects on her remarkable life and a record-breaking reign.

Prestige book cover and panes 1, 3, 4, 5.

 

Prestige stamp book pane 2 with two each 50p & £1 definitives coded M26L MPIL

 

Collector Sheet 

The collectors Sheet contains all 8 stamps from the stamp set and accompanying labels featuring carefully curated photography matching the time period of the paired stamp. The stamps and labels sit on a background of the official “100” logo.  The Collector Sheet is self-adhesive and lithography, making the stamps in the Collector Sheet different from those printed in the set.

Queen Elizabeth II Centenary Collector Sheet.

Products available 

Set of stamps, miniature sheet, first day covers (2), presentation pack, prestige stamp book, fdc of PSB definitive pane, collector sheet, stamp cards (13), press sheet of 16 miniature sheets, £5 coin covers (3 - gold, silver, and cupronickel), framed products (set, MS, collector sheet). 

All available from Royal Mail's website and some available from a Post Office branch quite near you if you are lucky.

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Slogan postmarks for April 2026 - and other interesting postal markings.

It's now 13th April and there is no news yet on new slogans, although it has been suggested that there might be one for the local elections, such as the 'Post Early' for postal voters from July 2024.

So please if you find anything new do get in touch.  Meanwhile we will start off with the continuation of the British Heart Foundation standard slogan from Cornwall Mail Centre on 07/04/2026. 

British Heart Foundation Cornwall Mail Centre 07/04/2026

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UPDATE 17 April.   Sheffield is having trouble again.  Thanks to LT for this example of the (February) National Apprenticeship Week slogan used on 16 April.  The BHF slogan was used there on 14th.

National Apprenticeship Week slogan used wrongly at Sheffield Mail Centre 16/04/2026

Update 29 April.  No more slogans have appeared in April, but I'm told that there will be Local election slogans in some places use in early May.

I'm going to prepare a May slogan postmark post NOW, so that you can be prepared to get your own or be on the lookout.  

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OTHER POSTMARKS AND POSTAL MARKINGS

Just over two years ago we showed the self-inking datestamp (with wavy edges) from Holmbush in the outskirts of St Austell in Cornwall.   Now JH has sent the newer 'Morse' type of SID that is in use now, used on 2 April 2026.  

Holmbush Post Office 'Morse' type SID 02 APR 2026.

Update 30 April.   RS has sent this Morse code handstamp from Richmond, Surrey used in February.

Richmond Post Office 'Morse' type SID 03 FEB 2026. (This is the Surrey Richmond.)

I also have this one from Drylaw (Shopping Centre), Edinburgh but I regret to say that I cannot find who sent it, so apologies to the reader who supplied it.  It should be 29 March but the reversed 5 has been mis-read as a 2, and it reads 59 MAR 2026.

Drylaw Post Office 'Morse' type SID 59 MAR 2026.

 

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Update 29 April.  SS in Canada has sent another gem from one of his suppliers. I wonder even if the Post Office Customer Service could tell without a lot of effort, just where this was posted even with the postcode in the handstamp?  STATION ROAD BR2 is actually 45 Station Approach, Hayes, Bromley, BR2 7EB.  This is the Google Streetview image from 2021. The branch is now a Morrisons Daily but the Streetview car passed by at 9.35pm so the 2025 image is very grainy!  

Post Office at 45 Station Approach, Hayes, Bromley, BR2 7EB now a Morrisons Daily

Fortunately it was sent by a tracked service and Royal Mail's Track and Trace webpage usually provides details of where barcoded letters were posted.

Station Road BR2 post office, SID 9 April 2026

SS also sent this image. In this case the branch staff did not cancel the stamps but fortunately the Exeter Mail Centre used their large rubber handstamp on it.  The Tracking webpage shows it was posted at Barton Road PO, TQ2 8HN.  

 

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Remember, slogan postmarks appearing in April will be added to this post, so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing.

A reminder of what these monthly listings are for.  

For each month I record the different slogans in use, plus the default slogan that is used when there is nothing else.

For each of these I try to record only one of each of the basic two types, plus any that are reversed on square envelopes, which normally only gives three or four.  

Occasionally a slogan appears with different line spacing in the same format.  

I do not record multiple versions of the same as any of these unless I later get a much better example of one that I showed purely for the record, but which is otherwise not very clear.

The only exception to this, which doesn't seem to happen much these days, is when a slogan is used well out of time.  

I mention this only to avoid readers unnecessarily duplicating what has already been provided.

 

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Norfolk & Norwich Philatelic Society

STAMP FAIR

Saturday 11 April 2026
10 am to 3.30pm

Middle School Hall - Hewett Academy
Gate 1, Cecil Road (off Hall Road or Ipswich Road)
NORWICH NR1 2PL

I shall be there with a lot of bargains, especially foreign catalogues, postal history, postcards, and Norfolk material.  If you're in the area do drop in and say hello.

After everything is put away again next week I shall get back to sending out orders, especially for the Visible Change business sheets and booklets. 

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King Charles III definitives - new printings 2026

Printings of the King Charles definitives with 2023-2025 source codes are recorded in this post. 

This post is for M26L stamps and non-PSB stamps issued in 2026 with M25L codes are also included.

As with Post and Go & SSKs,  I have decided to have one post which will list all the news for the year, and then start another for next year.

Reprinted 2026 counter sheets 

2nd class green -
1st class deep purple -

 1p blue
 2p deep green
 5p dull violet-blue
10p turquoise-green
20p bright green
50p slate
£1  grey-brown
£2  new blue
£3.60 purple heather - printed 13 January 2026
£3.80 Aqua green - printed 14 January 2026
£4.60 Sapphire blue - printed 15 January 2026
£5  emerald

Reprinted booklets and business sheets with new Relay UK telephone number 

2nd class MEIL from booklet of 8 - M25L philatelic release 20 March 2026
                                                       - M26L reported by JH as found soon after M25L released.
                                                         They have the same barcode date (120126)** 
1st class MFIL from booklet of 4 - M26L philatelic release 20 March 2026
1st class MEIL from booklet of 8
1st Large MFIL from booklet of 4 - M26L philatelic release 20 March 2026

2nd class MBIL business sheet - M26L philatelic release 20 March 2026
1st class MBIL business sheet - M25L philatelic release 20 March 2026
2nd Large MBIL business sheet
1st Large MBIL business sheet - M26L philatelic release 20 March 2026

From Prestige Stamp Books - all self-adhesive, with source code MPIL

2nd class -
1st class -


1p -
2p -
5p -
10p -
20p -
50p - 21.4.2026 - Queen Elizabeth Centenary [M26L]
£1 - 21.4.2026 - Queen Elizabeth Centenary [M26L]

 

Other values

** 2nd MEIL M26L reported 21 April.  As they have the same barcode date it suggests that only the iridescent ink cylinder was changed.  

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Possible problems with accessing all features of this blog.

My default browser is Firefox, but recent changes in the way Firefox displays this blog - but not the others - have restricted my ability to use it here, and may restrict your ability to see everything.

Comments

Comments are moderated by email, that is, I am notified by email and may allow comments, delete them or mark them as spam.  

On the desktop version of the blog I can see them, but I cannot respond.  This is what I see - and what you may see if you use Firefox and want to comment.

 I am able to respond if I use the web version on my iPad.

Search 

On the desktop version, the strip above the title strip, which should be a light brown colour, is white and there is no content.  Which means I cannot use the search box, and cannot sign-in if I need to.

New Posts 

I normally click on the New Post link in the same strip at top right, but that doesn't appear.  I am composing this explanation using the Safari browser.  However, in Safari I cannot add new images.  There's an icon in the editing page to add an image, but when I click on that a blank window pops-up with no option to drag-and-drop, to select and existing image, or link to another web source image.

UPDATE: As you can see above I have managed to add an image.  Fortunately as the user control panel is the same for all the blogs associated with this email address, I can go to the Modern Postal History (MHP) blog as if I am editing that, and then select this blog to do the editing or composing.

Whilst readers should only be affected by the first two of these, the restrictions on composing a new post or editing an existing one are fundamental to what is a very visual blog.  If ti were a narrative things would be different, but you want to see pictures.

Trying to find the solution to this will not be easy (the italicised explanation above is a workaround which I would prefer not to have to use).  I don't think I've done anything in the design or text coding (the html mark-up language which lies behind all websites) to change anything.  It is possible that the fault lies in the way we have framed the URL.  

The MHP blog started out as https://machins-on-cover.blogspot.com

This one started out as https://norvic-philatelics.blogspot.com (I think - it might have been norphil.blogspot.com), but to bring everything apparently under one roof, so to speak, the internet routing has been changed so that our shop and blog are accessed through the norphil.co.uk domain.  This does not need to be a secure site because no personal information is gathered.  

The shop(.norphil.co.uk) is hosted by a commercial platform which is secure, and the blog(.norphil.co.uk) routes to blogger, a Google-owned commercial secure website.  

Whether this is the cause of the problem I don't know.   I can still access all features of the Modern Postal History (MPH) blog, which is registered to the same email address.

If I have not resolved this by the time I should be writing about the next stamp issue, I shall so so through the control panel of the MPH blog until the situation is restored.

If you are experiencing any difficulties in viewing or commenting on this blog, please let me know in the comments and let me know by email what browser and OS you are using.

Thank you and sorry for any inconvenience.

UPDATE 15 APRIL:  The situation appears to have settled back into its old state as I can now comment and reply to comments.  The 'Can't open this page' message at the top of this page no long appears.

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Lord of the Rings Retro Special Offer.

The 2004 set of 10 Royal Mail stamps marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of the first books in the Lord of the Rings series.  The stamps depicted drawings illustrating locations in the books. All the illustrations are by the author except for the map which is by his son Christopher. 

At the time we were producing first day covers for every stamp issue: the numbers varied according to our perceived popularity of the subject.

We think these were some of the best we produced. There are two sets of designs. One pair is in pencil/charcoal by Mates Laurentiu, and the other pair by Lori Snowden is in pastel shades similar to the stamps. 

In each case one cover has stamps depicting 'evil' and one has the 'good' stamps. The 'good' covers have postmark E8927 (Ringwould), and the Literary Legend Sarehole Mill postmark (M8967) is on the 'evil' covers. All the covers have individual descriptive inserts.   

We have found a few of these remaining in stock, and to clear them here is a very special offer.  Originally they were £15.50 for a pair or £29.50 for the set of four.  

For readers of this blog the prices are less than half price:  £7.50 for either the pastel pair or the charcoal pair, or £15 for a set of 4. (Pairs will have the same serial number; where possible sets of 4 will have the same number.)   E-mail to the usual address, for a pair or set of 4.

Ideal as a gift for Ring fans. 
 

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