Royal Mail today announced the installation of the first postbox to bear the cypher of HM King Charles III.
The box, located on High Street, Great Cambourne was unveiled by
children from The Vine Inter-Church Primary School in Upper Cambourne,
and HM Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, Mrs Julie Spence OBE CStJ QPM.
The children then posted the first letters in the box, using Special
Stamps that celebrated His Majesty’s Coronation.
As a school
project, each of the children was asked to write a letter to The King
about the school’s Forest School, which will be opening in September
2024. The Forest School is part of The Vine's approach to supporting
pupil's social and emotional needs, as well as a first step in becoming
carbon neutral. The children also formally invited the King to open
their Forest School.
The pupils also expressed their interest in
the environment and asked King Charles his advice on moving towards a
more sustainable future. The letters were placed in an envelope and
posted jointly by the Head Pupil and Deputy Head Pupil and sent to The
King at Buckingham Palace.
Emma Gilthorpe, CEO, Royal Mail said:
“More than 115,000 postboxes across the UK have recorded the succession
of monarchs since the first box bore the cypher of Queen Victoria. We
thank His Majesty for granting us the use of his personal cypher as we
begin the next chapter in the story of the iconic Great British postbox
in Great Cambourne.”
The King’s cypher consists of the initials
of the monarch’s name, Charles III, and title, Rex – Latin for King,
alongside a representation of the Tudor Crown. Royal Mail is pleased and
honoured to carry the cypher as its use is in the personal gift of the
King.
A commemorative plaque records the special status of this historic postbox. Although some new or replacement post boxes have been installed since Charles acceded to the throne in 2022, the cypher of Queen Elizabeth II was still used to prevent wastage.
The new cypher will not be applied to new post boxes in Scotland, as since 1955 they have been distinguished by the St Andrews crownThe tradition of using a royal cypher on
postboxes dates back to Queen Victoria’s reign. The use of the cypher on
Royal Mail postboxes identifies the reigning monarch at the time they
were created. When there is a change in monarch, any new postboxes carry
the new cypher, but existing postboxes retain the cypher from the
period in which they were installed.
The cypher is also applied
to the doors of Royal Mail vehicles. The initial roll-out of the new
cypher across Royal Mail’s fleet will see 100 trucks bearing the cypher
on the 12 July, with a further 290 trucks due to receive the new logo
over the next six weeks. In total, 3636 delivery vehicles will be
updated from August to October 2024.
There are currently 115,000 postboxes in operation across the UK.
We understand that, unlike earlier postboxes which had the cypher integrated into the casting, these new ones are welded on.
Keys left in the postbox will have had a postman sacked !
ReplyDeleteAnyone know what is going to happen in Scotland (it may already have been announced, and I missed it) given that the reign of Her Late Majesty saw Royal Mail (and many other public bodies) use a device based upon the Scottish crown, to avoid a cipher referring to Queen Elizabeth THE SECOND when she was the first monarch of Scotland to bear that name?
ReplyDelete(I know that it was later resolved that, thenceforth, regnal numbers would be the higher of that applicable to England or Scotland - so the next King James of England would be James VIII, and the next King Richard would be Richard IV in Scotland.)
Of course, the use of the Tudor crown might itself be problematic for some Scots, given that it was only with the extinction of the House of Tudor upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1603 that the crowns became united in the person of King James VI & I (and his heirs and successors).
"The new cypher will not be applied to new post boxes in Scotland, as since 1955 they have been distinguished by the St Andrews crown." (Para 8, and in the post on the new cypher)
DeleteOops!
Delete("Should have gone to Specsavers!")
Is it just me, or have they taken a design icon and taken away what made it so good? The key recess, the block the cypher sits on, the cutout around the logo - it's all just a bit inelegant. I suppose at least we'll be spared seeing them in any great numbers.
ReplyDelete- Martin