Royal Mail’s centuries-sweeping Kings and Queens series, charting all the Royal Houses, reaches the House of Hanover, with a new set of Special Stamps.

Issued on 15^th September, this is the fifth, and penultimate, issue celebrating Kings and Queens across more than 600 years of British history. The set features ten stamps highlighting this remarkable dynasty, which ruled for almost 200 years.

From 1714 through to 1901 there were only six Hanoverian monarchs.  It was this stability, coupled with the huge impact of the Industrial Revolution, which helped Britain to acquire much of its overseas empire during this period.

By the time of Queen Victoria’s death in 1901, the British Empire covered a third of the globe, despite the loss of the American colonies.

Following Queen Victoria’s death, her son and successor, Edward VII, became the first monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha which was Prince Albert’s family name.  However in 1917, during the First World War, it was decided to renounce this German family name and change the name of the Royal House to Windsor.

Philip Parker, Royal Mail Stamps spokesperson, said: ”We are almost at the end of this exciting 600-year royal journey and these latest stamps depict a fascinating period in the history of our monarchy.

The series reaches its climax with the release of the House of Windsor stamps in February 2012, which is of course Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year.”

Six stamps feature portraits of Victoria, together with George I, II, III, IV and William IV.  A four-stamp miniature sheet features key people and events of the Hanoverian era, and includes the Penny Black.

This is the fourth set of stamps in which an image of the Penny Black has been printed; others were in 1970 and 1990, and most recently in 2004’s Royal Society of Arts issue.

The sheet also features Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister, Scottish architect Robert Adam’s masterpiece Kedleston Hall, and a photograph of Queen Victoria in her Diamond Jubilee year. 

published August 7th, 2011