Royal stamp collectors

Gigantic stamp collection

One of the palaces of HM the Queen of England houses a gigantic stamp collection. In fact there are three collections in hundreds of albums: there are the green, the blue and the red collection. The green albums are those of the present Queen; the blue albums contain the collection of King George VI and the red collection belonged to King George V.

HRH Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh

The real starter what later became the red collection was HRH Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, a sun of Queen Victoria (1844 - 1900). He had started a general collection, but sold his stamps to his brother, the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII. The Prince of Wales was not really interested in stamps and gave the collection to his son George. Prince George, the duke of York and the future King George V, had already a collection of his own.

Prince George founder of the red collection

Prince George became the real founder of the red collection. Stimulated by his uncle, Prince Alfred, he used his journeys abroad as a naval officer to acquire stamps all over the world. Already in 1893 the Prince became a member of the Philatelic Society, later the Royal Philatelic Society. He then decided to restrict his collection to British dominions, protectorates and colonies.

Famous 2d Mauritius

In 1904 he succeeded at an auction in acquiring the famous 2d Mauritius, may be one of the rarest stamps in the world on which he was very proud. Later he also decided to collect essays, proofs and the original stamp drawings. So he became a real expert in stamp collecting, especially of Commonwealth stamps. During World War I - when he was already King - he tried to seek relaxation with his stamps in spending several afternoons a week with his collection.
His British Commonwealth collection, the most richest ever, has been accommodated in the red albums.

King George VI

King George VI, the son of King George V, chose for collecting stamps from his own period of reign. He got all the issues of all the colonies, dominions and protectorates of the British Commonwealth. These stamps, drawings, proofs etc. are housed in the blue bound albums.

Green albums

Strictly separated from the collections of her father and grandfather, the stamps from the period of reign of Her Majesty the Queen are being collected in the green albums. Although the queen herself is not an expert as her grandfather and father were, she has nevertheless a real personal interest in her own collection. She has an eye for detail and makes proposals now and then for amendments in designs of new stamps.

Philatelic collections available for publications

The so called Keepers Royal take care of the philatelic collections of the Queen and her ancestors. With special permission of Her Majesty the Queen they make philatelic material from the royal collection available for publications or for display in exhibitions from time to time. In this way the public can also enjoy parts of the royal collections.

More information

Postage Stamps 2000
Royalty on postage stamps
Princess Diana