With Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary this week I thought this stamp might make a timely post - The Royal Silver Wedding Stamp issued in 1948 to celebrate 25 years of marriage between Queen Elizabeth II's parents King George VI and the Queen Consort, Elizabeth (later known throughout her long life after the death of her husband as Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother).
A particular curiosity of this commemorative design is that the heads face right, whereas the King or Queen's head always faces to the left on definitive stamps.
Whilst news broadcasts the world over follow the Diana Inquest I thought I'd post this First Day of Issue Postcard featuring the Guernsey 12p stamp featuring Prince Charles and Lady Diana (as she was then known) together on the occasion of their wedding on 29 July 1981. The photograph shows the couple at the announcement of their engagement. The postcard was actually posted by an aunt and uncle who were holidaying in Guernsey at the time and the date of cancellation was a pure fluke.
One of the fun sides to buying the occasional mixed bag of stamps is that you'll inevitably find the odd rarity that pays back your minimal investment. For example, I was delighted to come across this George VI £1 brown (SG 478b). First issued on 1 October 1948 this stamp is actually harder to find in good used condition than mint! It was the final stamp in the "Royal Arms" set of six which comprised the 2s 6d brown, 5s red and 10s dark blue issued in 1939, and the 2s 6d yellow-green and 10s ultramarine, which were both issued in 1942.
In the opening track of Badly Drawn Boy's latest CD Born in the UK there's a line in it that talks about being a kid in the UK back in the summer of 1977: Vicious and his brothers
Were trying to set us free
But much more than this to you and me
This was the Silver Jubilee
This line really made me smile...1977 and the Silver Jubilee - if you were nine years old at the time the Sex Pistols weren't really going to have made much of an impression that year! Anyway, here's a scan of the first day cover with bureau postmark celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. The address is that of my primary school.. I distinctly remember complaining at the time when the school ordered the FDCs and they came back with the school name not our own names on the envelope!
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there's a line in it that talks about being a kid in the UK back in the summer of 1977:
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