After several decades of notable appearances on postage stamps, the Queen’s image is set to grace a series of Christmas stamps for the final time this festive season.
The iconic silhouette of Her Majesty’s profile was designed by Arnold Machin and has been a fixture of Christmas Royal Mail stamps since 1967.
The upcoming collection set of six art-deco-style stamps, designed by Kent artist Katie Ponder, will each depict a key moment from the Nativity scene alongside the Queen’s profile.
The stamps will display elements of the Nativity story, such as Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem and the Three Wise Men following the star.
Other images will include are Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus in his manger, the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary, and the shepherds being visited by the angel.
Royal Mail policy director David Gold said the release of the Christmas stamps “is always much anticipated, and it is one we particularly look forward to”.
“The charming style of these designs sets the perfect tone for the festive season,” Gold said.
The final Christmas tribute to the Queen won’t be the only royal piece of memorabilia that loyal monarchists will be keen to get their hands on after King Charles III recently picked images of his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, to be featured in a set of stamps to honour the late Monarch’s reign.
The Royal Mail revealed the commemorative stamp collection on Tuesday, September 27 after Charles announced the end of the royal family’s week of mourning.
“For the past seventy years, every British stamp has been personally approved by Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth,” Simon Thompson, CEO of the Royal Mail, said in a statement.
“Today we are unveiling these stamps, the first to be approved by His Majesty The King, in tribute to a woman whose commitment to public service and duty was unparalleled in the history of this country.”
The four greyscale portraits depict the Queen at different points during her 70-year-long reign as monarch and feature the date of her birth and death in the upper left corners.
Following the announcement of Queen Elizabeth II’s special stamps, the British mail service also revealed that the “every day” King Charles III stamps will be released in “due course,” saying that the new Charles stamps “will enter circulation once current stocks of stamps are exhausted”.