Stamps, coins, postboxes and logos to change after Queen's death

You will have seen Queen Elizabeth II's face on coins and stamps, and her coat of arms on postboxes, or food like tomato ketchup.

Elizabeth II died on 8 September 2022, aged 96, and now her son, Charles III is the new King.

This means eventually the Queen's coat of arms will be replaced with the King's, and his face will eventually be on our coins and banknotes.

There are lots of things that will change but some of them will take a bit of time.

Stamps

Eventually we will see King Charles III's face on our letters and packages

Since 1967, all stamps in the UK have had a side profile of Queen Elizabeth somewhere on them.

The Royal Mail - which manages post - says it will not stop producing stamps with her face on.

Don't worry if you still have stamps, as you're able to use them up until the end of January 2023.

King Charles III's face will feature on the new stamps, which are starting to be made.

There's also going to be a special stamp released to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II.

You will have seen the Queen's face on the back of your coins and on banknotes

Coins and notes

There are 29 billion coins in the UK at the moment - and every single one has Queen Elizabeth's face on.

We don't know when the Royal Mint - which makes all our coins - will start making coins with King Charles III on them.

The Queen has appeared on all Bank of England notes since 1960 (notes issued by Scottish and Northern Irish banks do not show the monarch).

There are about 4.5 billion individual Bank of England notes worth about £80bn in circulation at the moment.

All notes and coins will remain still be ok to use. The Bank of England will give lots of notice if that is to change.

Because of how difficult it can be to make new coins and banknotes, it's likely cash with the Queen's face on will be able to be used for a while!

The "Royal seal of approval"

Take a look at your ketchup bottle - have you seen the Royal Warrant label on there?

You might not have heard of the Royal Warrant of Appointment, but it's on a lot of items you might have at home.

On ketchup bottles, cereal packets, and even bottles of perfume, you might be able to find the Queen's coat of arms.

As these all currently say "By appointment to her majesty the Queen", which will change now King Charles is in charge.

This label shows that the item supplies to Royal households.

There are currently around 800 companies with Royal Warrants.

Passports

All passports are still valid, but new ones will now say "His Majesty" instead of "Her Majesty" on the front cover.

The National Anthem

The National Anthem has already been updated to "God Save the King" and that version will be sung after Charles is officially proclaimed King in a formal ceremony.

Because Queen Elizabeth II ruled for 70 years, this will be the first time those lyrics have been sung since 1952!