King Charles III: First stamps with King's head to go on sale
- Published
The first set of special stamps featuring King Charles III's picture on are going on sale soon. It will be the first set without a picture of Queen Elizabeth II on them, after her death last year. They are likely to be the first King's head stamps the public see as the first ordinary stamps with the King's head aren't out until April.
The stamps are a collection of 10 of Britain's favourite flowers. It's been seen as a nod to King Charles III's love of gardening. He has spent decades developing his garden at his home, Highgrove House. But there's also a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II with the sweet pea flower which was one of her favourite blooms.
The picture of the King on the stamps shows a silver silhouette of the King facing to the right. He's not wearing his crown in the picture. The Royal Mail often releases special stamps to mark different anniversaries and birthdays. It's done stamps for everything from Harry Potter and Doctor Who, to Thomas the Tank Engine and Paddington Bear.
Illustrator Andrew Davidson drew the picture of King Charles for the stamps. He's best known for doing the pictures in the book The Iron Giant. They had to make sure that even though the picture is tiny, it's still easy to see it's King Charles in the corner.
Among the flowers chosen are the rose, which has been a symbol of the Royal family since before King Henry VIII and the sunflower, which is the official flower of Ukraine.
These stamps go on sale on 23 March. It still may be some time before all of the stamps with the Queen on are completely removed, but when they sell out, stamps with the King on will replace them all.
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