The Royal Mail are commemorating the passing of HRH Duke of Edinburgh with an attractive set of 4 stamps issued together in a miniature sheet. The stamps will be issued on June 24th, 2021, and will depict four black and white photographs of the Prince that were taken at different stages of his long life. The 2nd class stamp shows the Duke as a young man captured by Stirling Henry Nahum (also known as Baron), The 1st class stamp shows the Duke in Royal Navy uniform whilst attending Prince Andrew’s passing out parade at Dartmouth Naval college, Devon. The £1.70 stamp shows the Duke seemingly enjoying himself at the Royal Horse Show, Windsor and finally the £2.55 stamp shows the most recent formal image taken by Terry O’Neill. All the stamps are inscribed “1921-2021” but sadly the Duke passed away just before his 100th birthday. No doubt the Royal Mail would have produced a set of stamps for that special milestone before their plans had to change.
HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was the Queen’s loyal consort for over 70 years and during that time he accompanied her on over 250 tours abroad and carried out over 20,000 official engagements. He was well-loved and respected all over the globe and especially amongst the Commonwealth countries that held him in such high esteem.
He was a patron or President of over 800 organisations covering a wide variety of fields especially conservation, the environment, and science and technology. Among his most notable achievements was being co-founder of the World Wildlife Fund in 1961 and which is now the world’s largest conservation organisation and the formation of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme in 1956. The scheme was set up to reward mainly young adults who took part in special programmes to learn and improve new skills which included volunteering to help individuals or the local community, physical well-being through sport, dance or fitness, practical and social skills, and finally to plan, train and complete an expedition either abroad or within the UK. The award scheme has been a phenomenal success and has been replicated in 144 different countries all affiliated to the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Association. To commemorate the 25th anniversary in 1981, various countries, including Great Britain, produced special stamps. He has also appeared on many other UK stamps mainly commemorating the various Wedding Anniversary issues, a selection of which are shown below.
