UK Royal Mail unveils stamps with King Charles’ image for first time

The image of the King which will feature on first- and second-class stamps has been revealed, with a Royal Mail executive describing it as a “defining part” of his reign, Report informs referring to WalesOnline.

For the first time Charles’ portrait will appear on stamps in his role as monarch, and the simple, uncluttered, design draws inspiration from stamps that featured the late Queen.

David Gold, Royal Mail’s director of external affairs and policy, said they received guidance from the King to maintain “continuity” and Charles did not want existing stamp stocks showing the Queen pulped, but used up over time.

The new stamp design features Charles’ head and neck and the King is shown facing left as all monarchs have done since the Penny Black, the world’s first postage stamp, was issued in 1840 with Queen Victoria’s image.

“The guidance we got from His Majesty was more about continuity and not doing anything too different to what had gone before. I think perhaps there’s an acknowledgement that, for 70 years people have been so used to seeing the image of Her Majesty, even though actually the current image only started in 1967, they didn’t want to do anything too different to what had gone before,” Gold said.

“Personally, I think what marks this stamp out is that there is no embellishment at all, no crown, just simply the face of the human being, on the plain background, almost saying, ‘this is me and I’m at your service’, which I think in this modern age is actually rather humbling.”

The King’s image is used on definitive stamps, sometimes referred to as “every day” stamps, that have just the monarch’s head and value of the stamp on a plain colored background with a barcode alongside. British artist Martin Jennings made a profile sculpture of Charles for the Royal Mint who were creating UK coins and a team for the Royal Mail adapted an image of the artwork, adjusting and relighting the picture for use on the new stamps.