The House of Stuart - Great Britain stamps 15 June 2010, from Norvic Philatelics

Norvic Philatelics - GB New Stamps and Special Postmarks

The House of Stuart - 15 June 2010 - stamps and miniature sheet

Two sets of Kings & Queens stamps will be issued in 2010.  The House of Stuart is the fourth in the series, following on from the Scottish House of Stewart issued in March,   The first in the series was the Houses of Lancaster and York, and the second was the House of Tudor.

With no direct descendants, Elizabeth became the last monarch of the House of Tudor and King James VI of Scotland acceded to the throne of England. This created The Union of the Crowns which brought England and Scotland under one monarch.  James was the first cousin (twice removed) of Elizabeth and he was also the great grandson of Henry VIII’s sister Margaret Tudor who married James IV of Scotland.  As the first of the Stuart Kings of England, James VI/I is the only monarch to feature in two sets of the Kings and Queens stamps. This, the fourth in the Kings and Queens series, looks at the Kings and Queens from James I up until the death of Queen Anne in 1714. 

4 of 7 stamps showing Kings James I & II and Charles I & II.
3 of 7 stamps showing King William III, Queens Mary II and Anne.

1st class: James I (1603-25) & Charles I (1625-1649); 

60p Charles II (1660-1685) & James II (1685-1688); 

67p William III (1689-1702) & Mary II (1689-1694)

88p Queen Anne (1702-1714)

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House of Stuart Miniature sheet of 4 stamps - William Harvey, Battle of Naseby, John Milton, John Vanbrugh.

The MS takes a separate look at the life and times of the age, featuring events and individuals from the reigns. 

The events & people featured are: 

1st class William Harvey (1578 – 1657) English physician; 

60p English Civil War, Battle of Naseby 1645.

88p John Milton (1608 - 1674), poet author and civil servant during the Commonwealth period.

97p Castle Howard, designed by John Vanbrugh (1664 - 1726)

The border design features a timeline of the period.


Acknowledgements: James VI and I, c.1606, John De Critz, reproduced by permission of the Trustees of Dulwich Picture Gallery; Charles I (1600–49), 1635, Sir Anthony Van Dyck; Charles II (1630–85), c.1665–70, Sir Peter Lely; Queen Anne (1665–1714), c.1702–14, Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646?–1723), all from The Royal Collection © 2010, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; James II (1633–1701), c.1686, Nicolas de Largillière © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London; William III (1650–1702), 1690, attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller © courtesy of the Bank of England; Queen Mary II, 1677, Peter Lely © National Portrait Gallery, London;  William Harvey portrait by an unknown artist © Royal College of Physicians, London; His Excellencie Sr Thomas Fairfax K, Generall of the forces raised by the Parliament, 1647, Edward Bower © Trustees of the British Museum; John Milton portrait by unknown artist, c.1629 © National Portrait Gallery, London; Castle Howard, Yorkshire: elevation of entrance front from Colen Campbell’s Vitruvius Britannicus (London, 1715) © RIBA Library Drawings Collection

Background on the stamps

1st Class – James I (1603 - 1625) James became King of Scots as James VI on 24 July 1567, when he was just thirteen months old, succeeding his mother Mary, Queen of Scots. Regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, though he did not gain full control of his government until 1581. On 24 March 1603, as James I, he succeeded the last Tudor monarch of England and Ireland, Elizabeth I, who died without issue. He then ruled the  England, Scotland, and Ireland for 22 years, often using the title King of Great Britain, until his death at the age of 58.
Under James, the "Golden Age" of Elizabethan literature and drama continued, with writers such as William Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson and Sir Francis Bacon contributing to a flourishing literary culture. James himself was a talented scholar, the author of works such as Daemonologie (1597), True Law of Free Monarchies (1598), and Basilikon Doron (1599). Sir Anthony Weldon claimed that James had been termed "the wisest fool in Christendom", an epithet associated with his character ever since. 

1st Class – Charles I (1625-1649)  The second son of James VI of Scots and I of England, was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution. Charles famously engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England.  He was an advocate of the divine right of kings. Many of his English subjects opposed his actions which, particularly in relation to interference in the English and Scottish Churches, and the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent, grew to be seen as those of a tyrannical absolute monarch.
His last years were marked by the English Civil War, in which he fought the forces of the English and Scottish Parliaments, which challenged his attempts to augment his own power, and the Puritans, who were hostile to his religious policies and supposed Catholic sympathies. Charles was defeated in the First Civil War (1642–45), after which Parliament expected him to accept its demands for a constitutional monarchy. He instead remained defiant by attempting to forge an alliance with Scotland and escaping to the Isle of Wight. This provoked the Second Civil War (1648–49) and a second defeat for Charles, who was subsequently captured, tried, convicted, and executed for high treason. The monarchy was then abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England, also referred to as the Cromwellian Interregnum, was declared.

60p – Charles II (1660-1685)  The Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II king on 5 February 1649 in Edinburgh. He was crowned King of Scotland at Scone on 1 January 1651. Following his defeat by Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, Charles fled to mainland Europe and spent the next nine years in exile in France, the United Provinces and the Spanish Netherlands.
A political crisis following the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in Charles being invited to return and assume the throne in what became known as the Restoration. Charles II arrived on English soil on 27 May 1660 and entered London on his 30th birthday, 29 May 1660. After 1660, all legal documents were dated as if Charles had succeeded his father in 1649. Charles was crowned King of England and Ireland at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1661.
Charles was popularly known as the Merrie Monarch, in reference to both the liveliness and hedonism of his court and the general relief at the return to normality after over a decade of rule by Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans. Charles's wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no children, but Charles acknowledged at least 12 illegitimate children by various mistresses.

60p – James II (1685-1688) James was King of England and Ireland as James II, and Scotland as James VII. He was the UK’s last Catholic monarch. Increasingly Britain's political and religious leaders opposed him as too pro-French, too pro-Catholic, and too much of an absolute monarch. When he produced a Catholic heir the tension exploded and the leaders called on William of Orange (his son in law) to land an invasion army from the Netherlands. James fled England (and thus abdicated) in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was replaced by William of Orange who became king as William III, ruling jointly with his wife (James's daughter) Mary II. Thus William and Mary, both Protestants, became joint rulers in 1689. James made one serious attempt to recover his crowns, when he landed in Ireland in 1689 but, after his defeat at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, James returned to France. He lived out the rest of his life as a pretender at a court sponsored by his cousin and ally, King Louis XIV.

67p – William III (1689-1702)  William III was a sovereign Prince of Orange by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland and as William II over Scotland. He is informally known in Northern Ireland and Scotland as "King Billy". A member of the House of Orange-Nassau, William won the English, Scottish, and Irish crowns following the Glorious Revolution, in which his uncle and father-in-law James II was deposed. In the British Isles, William ruled jointly with his wife, Mary II, until her death on 28 December 1694. Popular histories usually refer to the joint reign as that of "William and Mary".

67p – Mary II (1689-1694)  Mary II reigned as Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1689 until her death. Mary, a Protestant, came to the thrones following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of her Roman Catholic father, James II and VII. Mary reigned jointly with her husband and first cousin, William III, who became the sole ruler of both countries upon her death in 1694. Mary, the blood sovereign, wielded less power than William during the parts of her reign when William remained in England, ceding most of her authority to her husband, though he heavily relied on her. She did, however, govern the realms alone when William was engaged in military campaigns abroad, proving herself to be a powerful, firm, and effective ruler. She was very active in the Church of England, which she ruled as its Supreme Governor. Though she shared the post with her husband, she largely exercised its power alone.

88p – Anne (1702-1714)  Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. Her Catholic father, James II and VII, was deemed by the English Parliament to have abdicated when he was forced to retreat to France during the Glorious Revolution of 1688/9; her brother-in-law and her sister then became joint monarchs as William III Mary II.
On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union 1707, England and Scotland were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain. Anne became its first sovereign, while continuing to hold the separate crown of Queen of Ireland and the title of Queen of France. Anne reigned for twelve years until her death in August 1714. Anne was therefore the last Queen of England and the last Queen of Scots.
Because she died without surviving issue, Anne was the last monarch of the House of Stuart. She was succeeded by her second cousin, George I, of the House of Hanover, who was a descendant of The Stuarts through his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, daughter of James I.

1st Class – William Harvey (1578–1657)
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and personal physician to both James I and Charles I, medical pioneer William Harvey was the first person to give an accurate explanation of how the heart functions and how blood moves around the body. His theories were published in An Anatomical Study of the Motion of the Heart and of the Blood in Animals in 1628.

60p – The Battle of Naseby 1645
Naseby was the decisive battle of the English Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in which England has ever taken part. It was fought on 14 June 1645, when the army of King Charles I attacked that of Parliament, led by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell Parliament’s force was larger, and of equally good quality, so that the king’s was destroyed, and he never raised another.

88p – John Milton (1608–74)
One of the greatest poets of the 17th century, John Milton recounted the Fall of Man in his most famous work, the epic poem Paradise Lost, published in ten books in 1667. A supporter of Oliver Cromwell, Milton also wrote numerous pamphlets in favour of freedom of speech and Church reform, and served the short-lived republic writing in defence of the Commonwealth.

97p – John Vanbrugh (1664–1726)
The son of a Chester merchant, John Vanbrugh was a notable dramatist before becoming one of Britain’s greatest architects. His first significant work was Castle Howard in Yorkshire. Work began in1699 and by 1712 the main body of the house was complete, combining classical elegance with physical comfort. Later commissions included Blenheim Palace.

Technical details:

The designs are by Atelier Works, and the 27 x 37mm stamps are printed in lithography by Cartor Security Printers, Meacé, France, in sheets of 25/50, perf 14 x 14.
The miniature sheet is 123 x 70mm, also perf 14 x 14.   All images are Copyright Royal Mail 2010.


Products available:

Mint set
Mint miniature sheet
Presentation Pack (set & MS)
First day covers
Set of 11 Stamp Cards


Special Postmarks
Postmarks available for the day of issue will be shown here. these may not be to scale. These postmarks cannot be obtained after the date of issue.

official bureau first day of issue postmark showing coat of arms. official Royal Oak first day of issue postmark with text as below. Non-pictorial Royal Oak first day of issue postmark.
First day of issue postmark showing Stuart timeline. postmark showing King Charles I.
Ref FD1025
Philatelic Bureau Official Postmark
Ref FD1026 Royal Oak, Filey, Official Postmark - Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties: John Milton. Ref FD1026N  Royal Oak, Filey non-pictorial postmark. Ref L11774 First day of issue Kensington Palace Timeline postmark Ref M11781
Stuart Road, Birmingham - showing Charles I
postmark illustrated with soldier from battle of Naseby. postmark in ornate frame. Postmark in ornate frame. postmark with illustration crown. postmark with portrait of King Charles I.
Ref M11783  Naseby, Northampton Ref L11773 350th Anniv of the Restoration, London WC1 Ref L11776 London Ref L11775 London SW1 Ref L11777  Whitehall, London SW1
Postmark showing thistle and rose. Postmark illustrated with belt/garter. Postmark with portrait of King Charles I. Postmark illustrated with cartoon king.
Permanent postmark of Edinburgh showing St Giles Cathedral.
Ref L11770 London Ref L11779 - Stuart Street London N14 Ref M11784 Worcester, (showing Charles I) S11786 Wigtown, Newton Stewart Ref: S4653
St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh
Postmark showing heraldic lion. Postmark . Windsor Castle permanent postmark.

Ref L11551
History of the Monarchy, Westminster, London SW1
Ref S11787
The Third Civil War 1649-1651, The Battle of Dunbar 1650, Dunbar East Lothian
Ref L4680
Windsor Castle



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This page updated 4 June 2010


2010 stamp issues
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January
7 Classic Album Covers
7 Olympic Games retail book 1
26 Business & Customised Smilers MS
February
2 Girl Guide Centenary
25 350th ann of the Royal Society
25 Olympic Games retail book 2
March
1 Castles of Wales
11 Battersea Dogs & Cats Home
23 House of Stewart
30 Machin & Country Definitives
30 Festival of Stamps retail advertising book
April
13 Endangered Mammals
May
6 Accession of George V*
8 The King's Stamps* &
London 2010 Souvenirs *
13
Britain Alone (1940)*
* London 2010 Festival of Stamps issues
18 Halley's Comet Commemorative Sheet
June
15 House of Stuart
15 Endangered Mammals Retail Booklet
July
8 British Grand Prix Commemorative Sheet
27
Olympics & Paralympics II
& Olympic Games retail book 3

August
10 London Eye Commemorative Sheet
19 Great British Railways I
19 Retail booklets: 12x2nd, 6x1st
September
15 Battle of Britain - Spitfire Generic Sheet & Retail booklet
16 Medical Breakthroughs
17 Faststamps: Bird pictorials
October
12 Children's Books
12 Olympic Games retail book 4
26 Special Delivery Machins
28 Remembrance: the National Arboretum
November
2 Christmas - Wallace & Gromit

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