Royal Philatelic Collection

The Royal Philatelic Collection is the postage stamp collection of the British Royal Family. It is the most comprehensive collection of items related to the philately of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth, with many unique pieces.

Some members of the royal family are known to have been collecting stamps by 1864, just under twenty-five years after their introduction in 1840. The first serious collector in the family was Prince Alfred, who sold his collection to his older brother Edward VII, who in turn gave it to his son, later George V.

George V was one of the notable philatelists of his day. In 1893, as the Duke of York, he was elected honorary vice-president of what became the Royal Philatelic Society of London. On his marriage that year, fellow members of the society gave him an album of nearly 1,500 postage stamps as a wedding present. He expanded the collection with a number of high-priced purchases of rare stamps and covers. His 1904 purchase of the Mauritius two pence blue for £1,450 set a new record for a single stamp. A courtier asked the prince if he had seen "that some damned fool had paid as much as £1,400 for one stamp". "Yes," George replied. "I was that damned fool!"

George V had the collection housed in 328 so-called "Red Albums", each of about 60 pages. Later additions included a set of "Blue Albums" for the reign of George VI and "Green Albums" for those of Elizabeth II.

The collection was kept at Buckingham Palace until it was moved to St. James's Palace, also in London. In 1952, a catalogue of the collection was published, prepared by Sir John Wilson, and edited by Clarence Winchester. It was available in a de-luxe leather-bound edition or a regular cloth-bound edition.

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