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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Royal Mail Stamp Programme for 2026

Coinciding with the release of details about the first issue of the year, Royal Mail have set out the programme for the first half of 2026.  As last year, they have withheld details about the second half, even from cover producers who have to do a lot of research before they can start printing designs and sponsoring handstamps.

Full details of the first issue will not be published here until the embargo date of 6 January but as Royal Mail's website includes this detail, I see no reason not to share the first six months' issues with you now.  Updated 20 April with most of the rest of the programme.

Thank you to the dozen or so readers here and on Stampboards who contributed over 70 suggestions, some of them frivolous (like the set that kicked off 'reader suggestions' many years ago), many others very unlikely, but some notable anniversaries and other worthy suggestions for which we will have to await the full programme to find out whether they match.  

As with previous years, there will be many stamp issues that no-one came anywhere near guessing and some that even when they are issued we will not really understand Royal Mail's justification.

Suggestions which I don't think will make it into the second half of the programme - Centenary of the General Strike, 75th year of Europa, 50th Anniversary of Dolly the Sheep, 150th anniversary of the Bell Telephone, The Archers (long-running BBC radio soap), Birth or Death Anniversaries of Agatha Christie (although that would be an easy option as there is already a precedent for using her material), Benjamin Britten, John Constable, Henry Blogg and David Beckham. 

Other subjects which stand a reasonable chance: The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, 300th Anniversary of Fire Brigades, The King Charles Coastal Path, London Zoo.  

Thematic subjects suggested were: Theatre Buildings* - which could incorporate the National Theatre, the Royal Ballet, Royal Opera, and Royal Opera House all of which have anniversaries in 2026.  Music Giants were not given much chance, although Swedish group Abba, Freddie Mercury himself, Genesis, Gorillaz, Joy Division, Led Zeppelin, and Oasis all got a mention.  Trees were suggested both for themselves and for the National Arboretum (linking in with Remembrance), Christmas Trees at landmarks, and the Peak District National Park.  *If this comes about then the person who suggested Architecture might be in contention too!

Suggestions which might be deemed frivolous - but about which picture books have been published - include Solar power, Trademarks, and Wheelie Bins.

I think one of the problems with trying to predict is trying to remember what has happened in the not too distant past when, maybe, we took less interest in new issues.  Thus the 60th anniversary of Star Trek when that has been done to death anyway, Centenary of Winnie The Pooh ditto (although having the agreement with Disney for earlier issues might sway things), and the National Arboretum was the subject of a Commemorative Sheet.  

Anyway, for the time being, this is what we know.  My intention always is to add links to this table when the details of the issue appear in their own post, but sadly that rarely happens.  I don't mind if you nudge me, by email. 

This table has already been amended since my first draft because dates have changed and the order of some issues has been revised since we were first told.  So don't expect this to be the final even for the first half.  I've no idea when we will be able to add all the July-December details but most of the second half of the year has now been added.

UPDATE24 July: Thank you to readers for pointing out that the 29th September issue has been postponed until 1st December.  This means only one issue in July, August, September, October, but two in November and one in December - two after the Christmas issue!  Of course the need to keep the pre-Christmas period clear doesn't matter as much now because most Post Office branches are not rushed off their feet satisfying collectors, and those that don't stock special stamps won't be affected anyway.

UPDATE 16 September - the programme for the rest of the year has now been announced. Just a few more links to add when the time comes. 

Links in the table are to the main blogposts for the issue.

13th January	Stranger Things (Neflix series) Blockbuster issue with all sorts of extras
21st January	Concorde supersonic airliner  8 x 1st, 4 x 1st MS
19th February	Hornby 125th    8 x 1st, 4 x 1st MS
26th February	Roses - 50th Anniversary of the first set of stamps dedicated to this flower, which was issued on the centenary of the Royal National Rose Society
20th March	Lord of The Rings. Another blockbuster issue with all sorts of extras
26th March	New Tariff definitives
21st April	Centenary of the Birth of Queen Elizabeth II 8 x 1st, 4 x 1st MS, PSB
21st May	Castles  - these, or new ones?   As it turns out, some old, some new.
23rd June	Waterfalls 5 x 1st, 5 x 2nd
9 July	Moths 5 x 1st, 5 x 2nd  Elephant Hawk Moth 2020
30 July	Military Jet Aircraft 8 x 1st and 4 x 1st miniature sheet  Avro Vulcan issued in 2018
20 August	Pets  Dog issued 2024
17 September	Music Giants 12: Duran Duran Duran Duran in New York City, 2005 By Tendai - https://www.flickr.com/photos/45624184@N00/18523842/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11877728
29  September	Postponed until 1 December
14 October	Winnie the Pooh Centenary  Winnie the Pooh from the 2010 set
3rd November	Christmas
11 November	Remembrance Poppy issued 2008
1 December	Football - Season 1  Football from the pre-Olympics 2012 set.

Will this be the design of Royal Mail's 2016 60th Anniversary Europa Stamp?

With the United Kingdom's 'Toys' Europa stamp issue for 2015 still to be revealed - although look at the gap in the calendar in October - PostEurop has revealed the common design chosen for 2016.  And this may be the first common design that Royal Mail has followed since 1984.


PostEurop is proud to announce Cyprus Post as the winner of the “Think Green” joint design competition.  The design from Cyprus Post artist, Ms Doxia Sergidou, was chosen amongst 24 outstanding entries. Posta Slovenije and Magyar Posta followed in second and third place respectively.

A total of 24 designs were submitted based on the chosen theme, to compete for the honour of having their image on the 2016 EUROPA stamps.  Up to 216 confidential votes were received from 36 PostEurop members whose designs were anonymously published.

The stamp motif is the work of Ms Doxia Sergidou who explains that “the main purpose was to show that it is in our hand to create a greener planet.  Thus, I have placed a hand on the top side of the stamp which basically represents anyone of us, actively replacing the grey colour (the environmental pollution) with the green colour which symbolizes environmental living and hope, and in turn inspire us for a better world.”

“The left side of the stamp represents the polluted side and is painted grey showing us the tremendous disaster caused by the industries, automotive vehicles, power generation and inefficient waste.  It also shows how the human activities are negatively influencing the environment. In contrast on the right side of the stamp, is the green side which shows us how using renewable energy resources, acting in a more environmental way and becoming more environmentally aware could positively affect the environment. This will not only have a positive effect in our generation, but it will also help the future ones to co-exist in harmony” adds Ms Sergidou.

“The impact of our activities on the Environment is an area of high priority for European postal operators and the multitude of initiatives across Europe inspired the theme linked to Europe’s ecology - Think Green.  Once again the designers pulled through taking on this challenging theme and produced some magnificent entries.  A lot of thoughts have gone into the designs and we would like this special 60th issue of EUROPA stamp to help build a legacy for the future generations” exclaimed Anita Häggblom, Chair of the PostEurop Stamps and Philately working group from Ǻland Post.

“In the last 60 years, Europe has gone through a tremendous change but the initial concept still remains.  We are happy with the outcome of this design competition and would like to thank all 24 entrants for taking the time to articulate in a special design what is quite complex in today’s world.” concludes Mr Botond Szebeny, PostEurop Secretary General.

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The Europa theme in 2017 will be Castles and in 2018, Bridges.... which makes Royal Mail's choice for March this year slightly unfortunate.  Doubtless they will restrict their Europa issue to one stamp to avoid further collector criticism that "bridges are being overdone".

UPDATE 22 May
One of my twitter followers writes:
"I tweeted on the 20th asking RM stamps about the Europa toys issue - had a direct message reply - RM are not participating this year."
So no Europa stamp this year, and from what I was told last week, "there's no way we would go with that design from Cyprus even if it is the common design for the 60 years". 
Well, if Royal Mail stop producing Europa stamps that will benefit Europa collectors who normally have to buy a complete set/block for one stamp, or pay a high price to get a set split.

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GB 2010 stamp programme updated

The Great Britain programme for 2010 has been revised from the outline announced in February:

7 January - British Design Classics II - this will NOT be similar to the 2009 issue as previously thought

2 February - Girl Guide Centenary

25 February - 350th Anniversary of the Royal Society

1 March - Castles of Wales generic Smilers Sheet (last in series)

11 March - 150th anniv Battersea Dogs & Cats Home

23 March - Kings & Queens: House of Stewart

13 April - Endangered Mammals

6 May - Accession of King George V (London 2010 issue)

8 May - The King's Stamps (ditto - 1st day of London Festival of Stamps)

13 May - Britain Alone (commemoration of events of 1940)

15 June - Children's Books

-- July? - Olympics & Paralympics II

19 August - Stage Musicals

16 September - Great British Railways

12 October - Kings & Queens: House of Stuart

2 November - Christmas
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Some of these are sets, some are miniature sheets, some have prestige stamp books, some will have generic Smiers Sheets. There will also be retail booklets advertising London 2010 (March) and the Olympics (January & February).

More details and images in this thread as embargo dates are passed, and here on the blog

Northern Ireland Castles brings a third self-adhesive 1st class

This is getting complicated.

Collectors will know that the Glorious Northern Ireland Smilers Sheet contained the first self-adhesive 1st class country stamp. The perforations (die cuts) were 'ordinary' and the phosphor bands fuzzy at the edges.

The Glorious United Kingdom Smilers Sheet, containing 1st class stamps from all four countries had elliptical perforations (syncopated, in US) and the phosphor bands were sharp-edged.

Now the Castles of Northern Ireland Smilers Sheet combines the two, with elliptical perforations and phosphor bands fuzzy at the edges. So that means the specialist has three different self-adhesive 1st class stamps from Northern Ireland and can look forward to the same from the other three countries.

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Hold on to your hats - the 2009 programme just got MUCH bigger

I think most collectors of GB stamps know that when Royal Mail announce the programme for a year, it is only half (or less!) of the story. There are often retail booklets, Smilers Sheets, and the now infamous 'subjects that didn't make it into the stamp programme' for 2008 which turned out to be Commemorative Sheets similar to Business Smilers Sheets, sold at more than twice face value.

Well 2009 is no exception, and we can now announce some of the additions to the 2009 programme. If you are a 'one of everything collector' I hope you've got a lot of money!

Castles Smilers Sheets. In addition to Northern Ireland on St Patrick's Day (17 March), the sheets for England and Scotland will be issued on their respective saints' days 23 April and 30 November. I assume that means we can expect the Welsh Castles on 1 March 2010, although that's not mentioned officially in the outline programme (see below). The England sheet uses the 1st class flag stamp from the Celebrating England MS, but self-adhesive.

As expected there will be another set of Smilers For Kids, being 4 packs containing 10 stamps each, and 4 generic Smilers Sheets of 20 stamps. Subjects to be announced - see 2008 for possibles.

A new retail book will be issued on 21 May. Containing 4 1st class gold Machins and two stamps from the 1997 Greetings issue (Iris Iatifolia and Tulipa - originally SG 1958 & 1962) now in self-adhesive die cut form. This booklet marks the 50th anniversary of the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies and is, as far as we can recall, only the second commemorative booklet, the first being the 2001 booklet which marked the centenary of the death of Queen Victoria.

The 31 March definitives for new postage rates include the 22p in a colour described by Royal Mail as 'stone'. The picture in their Philatelic Bulletin shows it to be dark brown. The others are 17p olive-green, 62p red, and 90p blue. New country stamps will also be issued.

Later in the year three Generic Smilers Sheets, similar to that issued for Beijing Olympic Expo, will be issued on Royal Mail's participation in various International Stamp Exhibitions, in Thailand, Italy and Monaco. There will also be two Commemorative Sheets similar to the Territorial Army sheet issued last year.

One other Smilers Sheet is possible in the summer.

Finally, the devices known universally as Faststamps but which Royal Mail have dubbed Post and Go Stamps (ie those with the Machin head on), are to be issued in packs of 5 values from Royal Mail's Philatelic Bureau in Edinburgh. The branch code on these stamps is said to be that for Bristol, but the value, etc, on the labels will be printed in gravure, by Walsall, who also print the base stamps. Thus these 5, which will be separate, not in the desired se-tenant strips, will be detectably different to those obtained from machines.

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Inset Phosphor Bands on most Security Machins

For some reason the phosphor on the self-adhesive definitive stamps is not printed in the space between the stamps (known as the matrix) as on the those printed on normal sheets of 200. Whereas short or inset phosphor bands on the normal sheets would apply only to a proportion of the sheet (bottom or top row, first or last column because they are printed continuously, across all perforations), such phosphor shifts on the new stamps will apply to every stamp. This should have an impact on their cost and value.

Updated 24-02-09

2nd class [04/12/08] - All are very slightly short of the top perf tips [Later: Phosphor on sheet 0000440 is 100% OK]

1st class [09/12/08] - Most are very slightly short of the top perf tips

2nd Large [10/12/08] - All are short at the foot, some sufficiently to be catalogued, but most not.

1st Large [09/12/08] - All are very slightly short of the top perf tips

50p grey [08/12/08] - All are very slightly short of the left perf tips [Later: Another sheet has phosphor slightly short at the top but the left is OK!]

£1 ruby [08/12/08] - All are very slightly short of the left perf tips

£1.50 [20/01/09] - All are very slightly short of the top perf tips

£2.00 [20/01/09] - All are slightly short of the top perf tips, some almost listable. Two sheets found are also slightly inset at right

£3.00 [20/01/09] - Very nearly all are 'OK'. One Cyl block seen has left and foot extreme tips clear of phosphor.

£5.00 [20/01/09] - All except one Cyl block are slightly short at the top. The odd one is 100% ok.

Tell us about your discoveries!

Castles of the UK Smilers Sheet Series

Castles of Northern Ireland

The first in what we assume will be a new five-sheet series of Smilers Sheets is a surprise addition to an already very busy March 2009 programme.

Using the 1st class Northern Ireland definitive the sheet shows 2 panes of 10 castles of Northern Ireland and will be issued on St Patrick's Day, 17th March. Click on the image to go to our website and see an image of the whole sheet, and a hi-resolution enlargement.