World Stamps

Canada Post King Charles III definitive extends lasting tradition

May 23, 2023, 12 PM

By Molly Goad

Canada Post unveiled its first definitive stamp featuring King Charles III at the country’s May 6 ceremony marking the coronation of the new monarch.

The stamp, which was released May 8, continues Canada Post’s tradition of issuing definitive stamps depicting the Canadian sovereign. This custom began in 1851 with a pre-confederation stamp featuring Queen Victoria, the king’s great-great-great grandmother.

The King Charles III definitive stamp is available in a booklet of 10. The stamp is nondenominated, paying the permanent rate for domestic letters weighing up to 30 grams (currently 92¢). This is represented by the letter P inside a maple leaf in the upper right corner of the design.

Graphic design firm Paprika created the stamp with a black-and-white portrait of King Charles III by photographer Alan Shawcross.

The photograph may look familiar as it also has appeared on a £3 stamp issued by Jersey (Scott 2189).

Canada Post said in an online story about the King Charles III stamp and other stamps featuring British monarchs that the 2006 photograph shown on the new definitive “also appeared on a stamp issued by Jersey Post to mark the 70th birthday of The King (then The Prince of Wales) in 2018.”

Charles was born Nov. 14, 1948, in Buckingham Palace.

Canada Post serviced 7,000 first-day covers for its definitive stamp with an Ottawa, Ontario, cancellation.

The FDC features a photograph of King Charles III in Ottawa during his 2022 royal tour of Canada. The photo was taken by Canadian photographer Justin Tang.

Lowe-Martin printed the stamp booklet and FDC. Canada Post ordering numbers are 111251 for the booklet pane of 10 and 411251131 for the FDC.

The new stamp booklet and FDC are available from Canada Post’s online store and by mail order from Canada Post Customer Service, Box 90022, 2701 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, ON K1V 1J8 Canada; or by telephone from the United States or Canada at 800-565-4362, and from other countries at 902-863-6550.

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