After the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the country entered a period of mourning - but also a period of change. Some of these changes will be smaller and make everyday items we take for granted suddenly very unfamiliar.
Coins and stamps will bear the face of a king for the first time in 70 years, and post boxes will be replaced with ones marked with King Charles ’ royal cypher. The cypher will read ‘CR’ and stands for Charles Rex, which means king in Latin.
The King revealed his cypher at his Accession Council meeting on Saturday, September 10, which formally declared him king. He can be seen wearing a tie pin bearing the letters CR underneath a depiction of the crown.
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This new cypher will appear on everything from passports to post boxes to mark the new age of the monarchy. The Queen ’s cypher was ‘ER’ and stood for Elizabeth Regina, which is the Latin word for queen.
His Majesty also signed with his new signature ‘Charles R’ at the historic accession ceremony. Every monarch has taken part in this ceremony since George I in 1714.
More than 60 percent of Britain’s 115,000 post boxes carry the royal cypher of the Queen, which will slowly be changed. Not all will be changed however as many still carry the cypher of historic monarchs such as King George VI.
Stamps with the Queen’s silhouette on will no longer be produced, instead new stamps with the King’s image will take over. Coins and notes could be replaced too but it is not known when this might happen.
These will all bear the cypher of the King but it is thought that for the foreseeable future anything with Queen Elizabeth’s image or cypher will remain valid. It is likely that both cyphers will be in circulation for some time in this transitional period for the country.
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