Centenary of Birth of HM QEII

According to the Royal Mail "...2026 marks the centenary of the birth of Queen Elizabeth II, on 21 April.
Born in 1926 in the aftermath of the First World War, Queen Elizabeth II would go on to reign from 1952 until her passing, aged 96, in September 2022 – she was the longest-reigning and longest-lived monarch in British history.
Royal Mail is celebrating the life and work of Queen Elizabeth II with a set of eight Mint Stamps that feature a selection of carefully curated photographs taken throughout her lifetime. A separate Miniature Sheet of four stamps reflects Queen Elizabeth II’s lifelong love of animals.''.

Queen Elizabeth II was born at the then family residence of the Duke and Duchess of York 17 Bruton Street Mayfair  a townhouse on a busy London street.- hence the address on our handstamp. This was ten years before the 1936 constitutional crisis which saw Elizabeth's uncle Edward VIII relinquish the throne so that he could marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson and her father replacing him as King George VI. Interestingly No.18 Bruton Street was the residence of Guy Marcus Trundle who was in a clandestine relationship with Wallis Simpson.

Our handstamp also includes an illustration of a Pembroke Corgi dog - Queen Elizabeth II's favourite breed. 'Susan', her first of many, was given to her on her eighteenth birthday by her father King George VI.