• Six new definitive stamps  - the every day stamps available from all Post Office branches - issued on the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty The Queen’s accession to the Throne on February 6th 1952
• For the first time official portraits of The Queen, sourced from stamps, coins and banknotes, have been brought together for a stamp issue.
• Included in the new definitives sheet is the brand new diamond blue definitive stamp issued to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year
• A set of eight new Special Stamps to celebrate Diamond Jubilee will follow on 31st May

Royal Mail is celebrating Her Majesty The Queen’s 60th anniversary of the accession to the throne with a special sheet of new 1st Class definitive stamps. The Diamond Jubilee Miniature Sheet, issued on 6th February 2012, is the first time that the official portraits of The Queen, sourced from stamps, coins and banknotes, have been brought together for a stamp issue.

Included among the six stamps is a brand new 1st Class diamond blue definitive stamp, which will replace the current standard gold definitive in Post Offices during 2012. Since it first appeared, the standard definitive image has been reproduced on more than 220 billion of Royal Mail’s stamps. It has now been specially updated to mark the occasion with the words ‘Diamond Jubilee’ highlighted in iridescent ink on the background.
Included in the set is a 1st Class stamp featuring an image of Her Majesty The Queen reproduced from the very first stamp issued during her reign. The image, from 1952, was taken by society photographer Dorothy Wildling.  

The set also includes portraits taken from a £1 banknote first issued in 1960 which ceased being legal tender on 31 May 1979, and a £5 note issued in 1971 which ceased being legal tender on 29 November 1991. Two stamps also feature The Queen on two different coins. The first is a pre-decimal portrait used on coins from 1953 and the second used on decimal coins from 1968.

This Diamond Jubilee Miniature Sheet is the second of three stamp issues in 2012 celebrating The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  The next is a special eight-stamp issue featuring the Queen throughout the six decades of her reign, will be issued on 31 May. The first was The House of Windsor and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha issued on 2 February, which features a 1954 portrait of The Queen.

Moya Greene, Chief Executive, Royal Mail, said: “Royal Mail is proud of our enduring association with Her Majesty The Queen. It is the company’s honour to play a part in what will be an historic celebration of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The Queen’s image is one of the most recognisable in the world and we are delighted to bring these iconic images together to mark the 60th anniversary of The Queen’s accession.”

Her Majesty, the then Princess Elizabeth, acceded to the throne on February 6th 1952.

Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 year reign is the second longest for a British monarch behind only Queen Victoria who ruled for 63 years and 7 months.

The anniversary will be heralded with countrywide Royal Gun Salutes including the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery in Hyde Park firing 41 rounds in celebration at midday. There will also be a 62-gun salute by the Honourable Artillery Company at the Tower of London at 13.00. 

Ends

Natasha Ayivor
Royal Mail Press Office
100 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0HQ
Tel: 07436 280002
Email: natasha.ayivor@royalmail.com
www.royalmail.com/stamps

NOTES TO EDITORS
Since the world’s first stamp, the Penny Black, Royal Mail’s definitive stamps have featured an image of the monarch facing to our left. Royal Mint has a different convention as succeeding monarchs alternate the direction in which they face. Her Majesty the Queen faces to our right on coins.

The two stamps featuring the coin imagery will be the only such definitive stamps where the monarch faces this direction.

The image of Her Majesty from decimal coinage was created by the sculptor Arnold Machin, who also designed the current definitive stamp image of the Queen. Hence Machin’s two famous creations will face each other on the sheet.

For almost 50 years, Royal Mail’s Special Stamp programme has commemorated and celebrated events and anniversaries pertinent to UK heritage and life. Today, there are an estimated 2.5 million stamp collectors and gifters in the UK and millions worldwide. Her Majesty the Queen approves all UK stamp designs before they are printed.

Stamps and stamp products are available at all Post Office branches, online at www.royalmail.com/diamondjubilee and from Royal Mail Tallents House (tel. 08457 641 641), 21 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9PB.

Diamond Jubilee Definitives stamps
1st Class – Dorothy Wilding Definitive
The first stamp on the miniature sheet has been inspired by the Wilding definitives first issued in 1952, featuring a photograph taken by Dorothy Wilding and a decorative frame design, inspired by the early frame design by Edmund Dulac.

1st Class – Robert Austin Banknote Portrait
Austin designed the first Bank of England notes to bear the monarch’s head. The engraving was based on a pencil sketch taken from a photographic portrait. The first note, £1, appeared in 1960.Queen Elizabeth II was the first monarch to be depicted on Bank of England notes.

1st Class – Harry Eccleston OBE Banknote Portrait
A new series of notes, designed by Harry Eccleston OBE, began to appear in 1970. His portrait of the Queen on the £5 note showed her wearing the robes of the Order of the Garter, as on the subsequent £1 in 1978.

1st Class – Mary Gillick Coinage Portrait
Coins with Mary Gillick’s design were first issued in 1953. This image is still used on Maundy Money to this day.

1st Class – Arnold Machin Coinage Portrait
First issued in 1968, Machin’s design for the new decimal currency subsequently provided the basis for the stamp image. The Machin coin image is printed next to the Machin stamp image in the sheet.

1st Class – Diamond Jubilee Machin
The classic definitive portrait by Arnold Machin issued in a new colour specifically for the Diamond Jubilee Year. It features iridescent ink highlighting the words ‘Diamond Jubilee’.  To celebrate the Jubilee year a self-adhesive version of this stamp is replacing the gold definitive in general circulation.