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United Kingdom: new stamps bearing the image of Charles III are on sale

Audio 01:16

The new postage stamp bearing the effigy of King Charles III. © AFP - ROYAL MAIL GROUP / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

The first postage stamps bearing the image of King Charles III went on sale this week. We will first have to sell those of the queen, which could take years. His eldest son is the seventh monarch to appear on this small piece of paper that makes collectors happy. Meet one of them in his store in the capital of the United Kingdom.

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With our correspondent in London, Marie Boëda

Oscar Young pulls his new stamps out of their transparent sleeve. "These," he says, "are everyday ones, and this one, it is special, for international couriers.

A green, purple or turquoise background, and a special feature: no crown on the head of Elizabeth II's son. "It's a very human image of the king. We recognize that. A very simple design. That's what he wanted," comments the collector.

Double-digit inflation obliges, its price has increased by 16%. The new stamp costs 1.26 euros. It will increase in value within 30 years, Oscar explains, wearing his round glasses. But the stamp is already intriguing customers, he adds:

« 

This is the first time for most people that there has been such a striking change. The stamp is an everyday object. Suddenly, the British see someone else's face. It's quite surprising, people react right away: "Oh, it's different".

VIDEO: The first new face in 70 years, as postage stamps featuring King Charles III are printed in a factory in Wolverhampton. The stamps went on sale across the UK on April 4 with Charles, who succeeds his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, set to be coronated in May. pic.twitter.com/p0J5FbGsRj

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 6, 2023

In front of the store, Olivia looks carefully at the portrait of the monarch. The image that Charles wants to send annoys the Londoner: "I think that for a member of the monarchy, you have to wear a tiara or a crown. They are not normal people. They do not have to pretend that they are.

She has carefully preserved a stamp bearing the Queen's effigy. In several years, it will surely have value, like the one printed the year of Elizabeth II's coronation, 70 years ago, and which is now worth 6,800 euros.

► Read also: Charles III favorable to a reflection on the role of the British monarchy in the atrocities of slavery

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