Queen Victoria & Prince Albert Bicentenary Commemorative Products | Stamp Design |
2019 marked 200 years since the birth of both Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert. Queen Victoria’s reign was the second longest in British royal history and through the Victorian era she ruled over tremendous social, political, industrial and economic change.
The suite of collectibles commemorates these two significant bicentenaries and includes a four stamp miniature sheet honouring the architectural legacy of Prince Albert, a presentation pack illustrating key moments throughout Queen Victoria and Albert’s lives and a limited-edition coin cover focusing on the Victorian era of industry and innovation as bridges, light bulbs and steam power came to the fore.
Photography: Jack Spicer Adams
Coin Pack title illustration: Jamie Clarke
The stamps focus on four buildings that showcased Prince Albert’s built legacy. From his Model Lodge — designed to help improve housing for the poor and built for display at the 1851 Great Exhibition by the Society for Improving the Conditions of the Labouring Classes (SICLC), of which Albert was president — to The Royal Albert Hall, opened by Queen Victoria in 1871, in memory of her husband who had died six years earlier.
The presentation pack accompanies a set of six stamps, designed by Webb & Webb, and is an illustrated biography of her life from her childhood to the incredible legacy she left behind that laid the foundations for modern day life.
The pack is designed to reflect the two diverse periods of her life – before and after Albert. The colourful front details her family, coronation and marriage, whilst the monotone reverse reflects her long period of mourning following the death of Prince Albert and her insistence on only wearing black after he passed.
The coin pack heroes the Victorian era of industry and innovation and is designed in the style of the London Illustrated News, a prominent publication that reported on Victorian life. Inventions such as bridges, light bulbs, steam power, coin rimming and the Royal Mail’s own underground rail system are illustrated through engravings from the era.