King Charles III, who will probably be anointed as head of the Church of England on May 6, is being commemorated with a Royal Mail postage stamp depicting a wooden engraving of a mosque, a Buddhist temple and a Sikh gurdwara amongst different homes of worship.
Captioned “Diversity and Community,” the stamp depicts a Jew, a Muslim, a Sikh, a Buddhist, a Hindu and a Christian, and “is representative of all faiths and none,” a information launch states. Urban and rural Britain are proven within the background, together with the completely different homes of worship.
A silhouette of King Charles seems on 4 stamp designs, however the brand new monarch is proven solely in profile on one — his crowning by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Another stamp depicts pictures representing the Commonwealth of Nations, of which Charles turned the top when his mom, the late Queen Elizabeth II, died.
A fourth exhibits scenes of “Sustainability and Biodiversity,” reflecting his environmental pursuits. In 2020, the then-Prince of Wales started providing jars of honey grown on his Highgrove property at £25 apiece, with the proceeds going to charity.
The new designs, launched at 12:01 a.m. Friday London time, mark a radical departure from earlier Royal Mail stamps marking a coronation. Those have depicted both the sovereign alone (Elizabeth II in 1953) or with their partner (King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1937).
The new stamps — from wooden engravings by artist Andrew Davidson — shift the main target from Charles as ruler to the communities, nations and peoples the royal household serves.
“Oh, my God,” professor Alice Hunt stated on seeing the designs. She is an affiliate professor on the University of Southampton and a researcher on the monarchy who has traced its rituals and ceremonies.
She stated the theme of the brand new points clearly displays Charles’ concepts for his reign, a few of which he has championed for years.
“This is him using the stamp to project not the image of kingship or him being recognizable as a person with the Crown — apart from the Coronation one,” Ms. Hunt stated. “This is him using the stamps to promote his values … that I don’t think he’s been able to get into the coronation ceremony as much as he might have wanted.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson deflected a query in regards to the degree of the king’s enter into the stamp design course of.
“We do not comment on conversations between Royal Mail and the Royal Household,” Natasha Ayivor, senior exterior communications and campaigns supervisor, stated by way of electronic mail. “All stamps are approved by the Monarch before they are released.”
Postal mail volumes have declined within the United Kingdom, from 14.34 billion items of “addressed letters” in 2011 to 7.79 billion items in 2021, based on a February 23 examine by information analysis agency Statistia.com.
But postage stamps retain an curiosity for a lot of within the U.Okay. and worldwide. British stamp sellers Stanley Gibbons estimate a world complete of 60 million stamp collectors, the Royal Mail announcement stated.
The 4 single stamps and a miniature sheet with the designs printed collectively will go on sale on Coronation Day, the postal company stated.
Pre-orders for the stamps are being accepted on-line at www.royalmail.com/coronation.
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