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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
I think this is a marvellous set, beautifully designed to celebrate Her Late Majesty The Queen's centenary...
ReplyDeleteReally? If Queen Elizabeth II had survived until her 100th birthday there may have been some point for monarchists to buy these dull stamps: but she did not. From philatelists' perspective we have all seen these dreary images before so why buy them? Again. When we have had all the various metals' "jubilee" stamps before. And the late queen, who got the job only because of who her father was, has probably been on more stamps than anyone else, so who would want more?
DeleteWhilst I don't agree with Lars Tåders hard line on the late Queen herself, I will certainly agree that they are inspiring, to say the least
DeleteI gave collecting GB commemoratives as of January 2012 and every time I see another "metals" stamp issue (or any other repeat issue for that matter), I thank my lucky star and still have no regrets
After the least-effort-possible stamps that were released on the late Queen’s death, I’m relieved to see these. A fine-looking set. All I need now is to find a post office that actually sells commemorative stamps these days.
ReplyDeleteRobert
ReplyDeleteMy local Village Post Office in Torbay, Devon does RW
My most recent commemoratives I bought at Pilgrim's Hatch in Essex, Strand (Robert Dias) in London and Singlewell Road, Gravesend in Kent. Best bets are formerly directly managed POs, British staff and town centres.
DeleteI don't know mind the stamps (though I gave up UK new issues a while ago). However, they are sort of like every other Royal issue. There's nothing to really separate them from many of the other royal issues. I'm also curious why Royal Mail didn't print the four B&W stamps in a horizontal strip, and then the four colour stamps in a separate strip. This then emphasises the life story of the Queen.
ReplyDeleteRM do make errors with some issues. The 4 mini sheet stamps have been seen by myself as 27 x 37, 35 x 37 this blog, and in the 1st issue I got last week they were 35 x 35 just have to wait & see
ReplyDeleteIn theory the information in First and that provided to the trade should come from the same source within Royal Mail. Sadly this is not always the case; occasionally copy and paste errors occur during the edit of either.
DeleteIn fact the stamps are 35 x 35 mm (perforations included).