British Kings and Queens' hobbies

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УДК 811.111:94(41) А.П. АЛЕКСАНДРОВА

кандидат филологических наук, доцент, кафедра английской филологии, Орловский государственный университет E-mail: arnold71@inbox.ru

UDC 811.111:94(41)

A.P. ALEXANDROVA

Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor, Department of English Philology, Orel State University E-mail: arnold71@inbox.ru

BRITISH KINGS AND QUEENS& HOBBIES ХОББИ БРИТАНСКИХ КОРОЛЕЙ И КОРОЛЕВ

The subject matter of the article is British Kings and Queens& hobby to collect stamp; a brief overview of the history of the British Royal Philatelic Collection is given.

В статье рассматривается увлечение Британских Королей и Королев, связанное с коллекционированием марок; предлагается краткий обзор истории создания Британской Королевской филателистической коллекции.

The hobby of collecting postage stamps had begun at the very moment they were introduced for franking correspondence. Immediately after their first appearance, John Edward Gray, an official at the British Museum, had already begun to collect them in 1840, and even requested them by means of an advertisement published in The Times newspaper in 1841.

The hobby of collecting stamps gradually spread to such a degree that by the end of the 1850s, the hobby of philately was widespread among the cream of English society. [1]

The Royal Philatelic Collection began in a small way through the enthusiasm of a young, stamp-collecting prince.

Collections of stamps exist in a multitude of forms. These include a small collection of all kinds of stamps from around the world gathered by a promiscuous beginner, and highly specialized and extensive collections belonging to highly skilled or even professional philatelists.

Each collection has some advantages and some disadvantages reflecting the enthusiasm and aspirations of a collector. The Royal Collection, enlarged by King George V, which is now owned by Queen Elizabeth II, is no exception. The undeniable advantage of this collection is its completeness. It includes virtually all stamps of the British Commonwealth, starting with the simplest pence stamps, which can be bought at any local post office to the rarest stamps such as, for example, the Penny and Two Pence stamps from Mauritius which were released in 1847 and have become almost priceless.

The royal family made its first philatelic acquisition in 1856. The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII1) and Prince Alfred2 of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (later Duke of Edinburgh) paid a visit to the famous company of stamp printers "De La Rue", and to commemorate the event a

special issue of the British sixpenny stamp was printed and it was to put on sale later the same year. The company presented the part of the sheet of this special issue to the distinguished guests and it is currently in the Royal Collection.

Alfred became a serious stamp collector. He put together a small collection and served as Honorary President of what is now the Royal Philatelic Society London from 1890 until his death.

Before his death in 1900, the Duke of Edinburgh sold his collection to his older brother, who in turn gave it to his son, the Duke of York. He was already a very keen collector, and once wrote to his philatelic adviser, J. A. Tilleard: "I wish to have the best collection not one of the best collections in England."

In March 1893 he was elected Honorary Life Vice-President of the Royal Philatelic Society. On his marriage later in the year, fellow members of the Society gave him an album of postage stamps as a wedding present. It contained nearly 1,500 contributions from over 100 of the Society&s members. [8]

By the year 1864 several young members of the royal family had began collecting stamps, but a special interest in this hobby was shown by Prince George (later George V3).

On February 3, 1887 Prince George, from Her Majesty&s Ship "Dreadnought"4 located on the island of Malta, sent a letter to his former tutor, in which he asked him to buy two complete series newly-issued British stamps. One series was for him, the other was for his uncle, the Duke of Edinburgh. His remark that they should buy new stamps as the form of new stamps is better than of used ones tells about his preference for new unused stamps.

Having become king, George V was an equally zealous

© А.П. Александрова © A.P. Alexandrova

Ученые записки Орловского государственного университета. №3 (66), 2015 г. Scientific notes of Orel State University. Vol. 3 - no. 66. 2015

and keen philatelist. He was able to distinguish rare stamps and made every effort to get the rarest stamps when there was such a possibility.

The flair of a true philatelist confirmed in Prince George, in 1904 he managed to get to his collection the Pence and Two Pence stamps issued by the postal authorities of Mauritius in 1847. These were the first stamps issued by any colonial postal authorities; they are extremely rare and extremely highly valued so that any collector could wish to acquire them. The 1d was bought from the Earl of Kintore&s collection, while was acquired at auction in 1904 for a then-record price of £1,450. King George V with great pleasure told a joke about himself and repeated numerously the history of acquisition of Two pence stamp of Mauritius Post Office. According to this a bit romantic story this stamp was found in the collection of a London schoolboy, which did not contain any other rare stamps. When the unused Two Pence &Post Office& Mauritius came up for auction, the sum of £1,450 was paid for it, and it was the astronomical sum for that period of time - a record price. One of the households of the royal court, who had no idea about collecting stamps, asked Prince George if he had seen that "some damned fool had paid as much as 1400 pounds for one stamp". "Yes," came the reply. "I was that damned fool!"

One of the unique things of the royal collection is a two pence stamp depicting King Edward VII of Tyrian purple color - "Tynan Plum", pasted on the envelope. The envelope was addressed to "His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales", and came on May 6, 1910, exactly on the day when the addressee became king. By this time, the post office had decided to not issue that stamp, so the stamp described above, as it is known, was the only one used and entered into the treasures of the Royal collection. [7]

The day King George V&s accession to the throne, May 6, was the day of another amazing coincidence for a man who was so passionate about stamp collecting: that day was the anniversary of the release of the first British stamp "Penny Black". These stamps were issued on 6 May 1840; they the world&s first adhesive postage stamp to go into circulation, or at least the oldest stamp to have been found. The "Penny Black" appears in the Yvert et Tellier Catalogue5. The basic topic appearing on this stamp is the profile of a female head, representing Great Britain, which was repeated on all English stamps dating from the 19th century until they were replaced in 1902 by the bust of Edward VII, after over a hundred of them had been issued.

The strength of his collection lies in its completeness. Regardless of how attractive or unattractive the stamps were, King George V never neglected a stamp issue provided that it was of good status. [7]

King George V also showed great interest in the stamp design, so the royal collection contains many sketches of the size of the stamp made by artists. These sketches received the king&s approval, and after their printers used them for engraving the matrix, manufacturing electroplate and selecting appropriate colors, the sketches were returned for inclusion in his collection. The king

considered the artists& drawings to be one of the most valuable parts of his collection.

He especially singled out and loved the outstanding stamps in blocks consisting of four stamps, and he initiated collecting stamps in such an attractive four-stamped form.

They say when King George V was in London he spent three afternoons a week with his stamp collection. He was very rarely interrupted.

Today King George V&s collection is housed in 328 red albums, each of around 60 pages.

After the death of King George V in 1936 the collection was passed to Edward VIII. He is said to have considered selling the Royal Philatelic Collection but did not do so. Although the Collection is the personal asset of the Sovereign, it was, and is, regarded as an heirloom to pass down.

After the death of King Edward VIII it was passed to King George VI. Although he did not have specialised knowledge, he did take considerable interest and the Collection was being enriched, with presented and bought material which is now largely mounted in blue albums and boxes.

Now the Collection belongs to Queen Elizabeth II. Stamps collected by The Queen are mounted in green albums and boxes.

Many early issues of stamps of the reign of Queen were printed the old way that is the matrix was engraved with artists& pictures in size of the stamp, so the collection includes a variety of these miniature works of art created over the years. However, with the advent of photographic methods of reproduction and in connection with the more frequent release of new series of stamps, now artists& sketches are usually reprinted as a stamp sample, and then they are selected or approved.

In recent years the rate of release of new series of stamps has increased so much that it was decided to add to the royal collection stamps of some countries only up to the date of any special, event, such as for example the country&s independence, or its transfer money to the decimal system. After that, any incoming material to the collection is entered in the case and stored for information. But if any stamp attracts special interest, its sketch, test printing, and various printing issues can be quickly restored to study or display. Thus, not all stamps have yet been mounted. There is probably enough material to fill another 2,000 albums or boxes.

The annual exhibition of the Royal Philatelic Society always opens with the material from the royal collection. This custom originated immediately after the World War I. King George VI stuck to it and so does the Queen Elizabeth II - she is the patroness of society. She also borrows materials from the royal collection for many major exhibitions around the world.

Comments

Edward VII (Albert Edward 1841 -1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death. The eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Edward was related to royalty throughout Europe. Before his accession to the throne, he served as heir apparent and held the title of Prince of Wales for longer than any of his predecessors. During the long reign of his mother, he was largely excluded from political power, and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. As Prince of Wales, Edward had become associated with riotous social life in which he indulged his taste for &fast& living, with gambling, and horse racing. However, he had also proved, during his trips to Canada and the United States in 1860 and to India in 1876, that he made a very effective overseas ambassador for his country. Both his personality and his achievements as ambassador would play a notable part during his reign as King. As king, he strengthened the position of the monarchy by reviving royal public ceremonial.

Alfred (Alfred Ernest Albert 1844 -1900 was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from 1866 until he succeeded his paternal uncle Ernest II as the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in the German Empire. One of the stamp collectors in the British Royal Family, Prince Alfred won election as honorary president of The Philatelic Society, London in 1890.

George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert 1865 -1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. He was the second son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales , and the grandson of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria. From 1877 to 1891, George served in the Royal Navy, until the unexpected death of his elder brother in early 1892 put him directly in line for the throne. On the death of his grandmother in 1901, George&s father became King-Emperor of the British Empire, and George was made Prince of Wales. He succeeded his father in 1910. He was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar.

HMS Dreadnought was a battleship of the Royal Navy that revolutionised naval power. Her entry into service in 1906 represented such a marked advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships. "Dreadnought" did not participate in any of World War I&s naval battles as she was being refitted during the Battle of Jutland in 1916. This was the only time that British dreadnought battleships fired on their German counterparts during the war. She became the only battleship to sink a submarine when she rammed the SM U-29 when it unexpectedly broke the surface after firing a torpedo at another dreadnought in 1915. She was relegated to coastal defence duties in the English Channel after Jutland, only rejoining the Grand Fleet in 1918. She was reduced to reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap two years later.

Yvert et Tellier is a postage stamp dealer and a philatelic publishing company founded in 1895 in the northern French city of Amiens, where the head office is still located.

References