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King Charles III will have a role in the design of new Royal Mail stamps bearing his likeness that are likely to come into circulation next year, officials have said.
Stamps bearing the image of Queen Elizabeth II remain valid for use, and all special stamps that have already been announced will still be issued – but stamps with the new King’s image will eventually enter into circulation following discussions with Buckingham Palace.
No further announcements on the matter will be made until after the Queen’s funeral, with a switch likely to come only “at the appropriate time, after consultation with Buckingham Palace.”
Royal Mail, which has reassured the public that stamps with the Queen’s head against a plain background will remain valid, is aware of the feelings people have towards the iconic image.
David Gold, director of external affairs and policy at Royal Mail, said: “I suppose that for many people the Queen has been such a consistent part of national life in this country for so long, 70 years. And so I suspect that people do feel an affection and a connection with the stamps because of that.
“We absolutely understand what a momentous change it will be when stamps no longer have the Queen appearing on them.”
It has been claimed that King Charles III will face the opposite way on stamps but Mr Gold said there is no such protocol.
Mr Gold said: “Royal Mail doesn’t have a policy on that. In fact, if you were to look at special issue stamps that we produce where we use the silhouette of the Queen’s head, you’ll see that they face on some stamps to the left and some stamps to the right.
“We don’t have such a policy. Which direction the King may face if and when we get to that point will be a matter for the King to decide upon.”
He added: “All stamps are approved by the monarch before they are issued, and that’s the process we go through.
“The Queen always used to, as I understand it, (make) it one of the few things that she made a personal decision on without advice from government ministers or advisors. So my understanding is that she took some pleasure in looking at the stamp designs that we sent to her.
“So there may well be future stamps that were approved by the Queen before her passing, and those stamps after consultation with Buckingham Palace would continue to be released.”
Similarly to stamps, existing post boxes, of which there are 115,000 in use, bearing Queen Elizabeth’s royal cypher will not be removed and those in production will still be installed.
“It will be some time before a new box appears with Charles III’s cypher on it,” Mr Gold said.
A pre-existing change, announced earlier this year, will see some old-style stamps old bearing the Queen’s face – those that do not have an attached barcode – become invalid in January 2023. Those including a barcode will remain valid beyond this date, however, and old-style stamps can be exchanged for new barcoded ones through Royal Mail’s ‘Swap Out’ scheme.
A spokesperson said: “As previously announced, following the introduction of barcodes to everyday stamps, these stamps remain valid until the end of January 2023.”
When stamps bearing the King’s portrait are ultimately released, they are likely to spark a flurry of interest.
Peter Cockburn, president of the Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL), told i that while changes to stamps do not happen overnight, he estimates those bearing King Charles’s image will be released by Christmas.
Queen Elizabeth II, an avid stamp collector herself, was patron of the society, which has around 2,300 members in 77 countries.
The tradition of royal patronage is one that the RPSL hopes will continue.
Mr Cockburn said: “We hope of course, in due time, that maybe King Charles will become our patron.”
Mr Cockburn expects a sudden uptick in interest in stamps when those featuring the new King are introduced, but the value of the current commonly used stamps are unlikely to change much.
“I don’t think there’ll be any great change in value. I think that’s probably not likely to have much effect,” he said.
“We’ve got 70 years worth of stamps with Queen Elizabeth II’s effigy on and it’ll take some time for the new monarch’s effigy, King Charles III, to be used on all the issues that the Royal Mail gives us, but yes, there’ll be a flurry of interest when the new ones come out.”
Photographer and former stamp collector Mike McSharry, from Leicestershire, said the Queen’s profile was as familiar to him as his own parents’ growing up.
Mr McSharry, now 62, started collecting stamps when he was six years old. He stopped during the 1980s but toldi how he plans to temporarily revive his existing collection once new stamps featuring King Charles’s portrait are introduced.
He said: “I’ll probably get them just to just to add it to my collection and just say, yes, I’ve got those now, because I’ve not touched my stamp collection since about 1980.”
The stamp collector added: “It would be interesting to look at it and then say look at the look at the changes that have happened in the world since I got these stamps.”
New housing developments could be some of the first places to spot post boxes bearing King Charles’s insignia, as existing boxes are not generally replaced unless they are in a state of disrepair.
