King Charles reveals new royal cypher

Virgin Radio

27 Sep 2022, 06:52

Buckingham Palace has unveiled the royal cypher of King Charles III, ahead of it appearing on government buildings, state documents and post boxes.

The cypher was personally selected by the new King, from a range of designs produced by the College of Arms. The design features a Tudor Crown and an ‘R’ for Rex, which is the Latin word for ‘King’. It also has ‘C’ for Charles, and ‘III’ which are the initials for the current monarch. 

The new cypher replaces the Queen’s familiar 'E II', and has been released as the period of mourning comes to an end after the state funeral last Monday (19th September).

King Charles’ personal monogram will be used for the first time today (27th September) to frank letters from the Royal Households, and you will start to see it appearing in various places over the coming months and years, including new passports and some post boxes.

The reason that the new cypher will only appear on some post boxes, rather than all of them, is because the original cyphers remain until boxes need to be replaced, and there are still boxes in use from the reigns of Queen Victoria, Edward VII, George V and VI, as reported by the BBC.

And if you are wondering when you will start to see King Charles III’s portrait on your notes and coins, The Bank of England says the new bank notes featuring a portrait of King Charles III are "expected to enter circulation by mid-2024", and the Royal Mint says coins will start to appear in line with demand, but there is no set date at this time. 

Existing banknotes and coins will still be valid when the new ones come into circulation. 

Meanwhile, The Royal Mail says that new stamps featuring King Charles will be used “once current stocks of stamps are exhausted”. A set of four memorial stamps are being released next month though, showing portraits of Queen Elizabeth II from different stages of her reign.