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British Post Office

Royal Mail plc
Public limited company
Traded as
Industry Postal services, courier
Founded 1516; 501 years ago (1516)
Headquarters 100 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0HQ, London, United Kingdom
Area served
United Kingdom / Worldwide
Key people
Peter Long
(Chairman)
Moya Greene
(Chief Executive)
Services Letter post, parcel service, EMS, delivery, freight forwarding, third-party logistics
Revenue £9,251 million (2016)
£551 million (2016)
£222 million (2016)
Number of employees
161,396 (2016)
Divisions Royal Mail
Parcelforce Worldwide
Subsidiaries General Logistics Systems
Website royalmail.com

Royal Mail plc (Welsh: Post Brenhinol; Scottish Gaelic: a' Phuist Rìoghail) is a postal service company in the United Kingdom, originally established in 1516. The company's subsidiary, Royal Mail Group Limited, operates the brands Royal Mail (letters) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels). General Logistics Systems, an international logistics company, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Mail Group.

The company provides mail collection and delivery services throughout the UK. Letters are deposited in a pillar or wall box, taken to a post office, or collected in bulk from businesses. Deliveries are made at least once every day except Sundays and bank holidays at uniform charges for all UK destinations. Royal Mail generally aims to make first class deliveries the next business day throughout the nation.

For most of its history, Royal Mail has been a public service, operating as a government department or public corporation. However, following the Postal Services Act 2011, a majority of the shares in Royal Mail were floated on the in 2013. The UK government initially retained a 30% stake in Royal Mail, however it sold its remaining shares in 2015, ending 499 years of public ownership.

The Royal Mail can trace its history back to 1516, when Henry VIII established a "Master of the Posts", a position that was renamed "Postmaster General" in 1710.

Upon his accession to the throne of England at the Union of the Crowns in 1603, James VI and I moved his court to London. One of his first acts from London was to establish the royal postal service between London and Edinburgh, in an attempt to retain control over the Scottish Privy Council.


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