Royal Mail has unveiled the final set of stamps honouring the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Queen Elizabeth gave her blessing to the Flying Scotsman-themed Special Stamps collection before she passed away.
It will be the final set to feature Her Majesty’s silhouette before the new King Charles-themed stamps become available on April 4.
The Queen’s silhouette has been in constant use on Royal Mail’s Special Stamps since 1968 and for more than 50 years the programme has commemorated anniversaries and celebrated events related to UK heritage and life.
In keeping with this tradition, a new collection of 12 stamps has been released by Royal Mail and the National Railway Museum to mark the 100th anniversary of the steam locomotive Flying Scotsman.
The images feature the train in various locations across the country, such as in a blizzard at Heap Bridge on the East Lancashire Railway or steaming through the town of Blyth in Northumberland.
A further four stamps were released in a miniature sheet that show images of the Flying Scotsman and London North Eastern Railway (LNER) poster artwork from the 1920s and 1930s.
The stamps will be available to pre-order from Feb 28 on Royal Mail’s website, while the collection goes on general sale from March 9 priced at £17.70.
The other images on the stamps include the Flying Scotsman in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, crossing the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick-upon-Tweed and as a close-up at Shildon, Durham, as well as at London’s Victoria Station.
David Gold, the director of external affairs and policy at Royal Mail, said: “Flying Scotsman is a national treasure of engineering and design that conjures up the golden age of steam travel.
“This remarkable locomotive epitomises the romance of rail travel and is loved by people all over the world. We are honoured to mark this landmark milestone with a set of Special Stamps.”
Royal Mail worked closely with Bob Gwynne, the associate curator at the National Railway Museum, to select the images featured on the stamps. They were chosen from among hundreds of period photographs.