Canada Stamps - Souvenir Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022)

SKU: COL-CANA-QEII

Mint - Very Fine Never Hinged

As the whole world is mourning the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, we too, with a sorrowful heart, wanted to do our best to pay homage to the late Queen! So this collection is our modest little attempt to remember and honour the life and work of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as told by the Canadian stamps issued throughout her life! She sadly left us on the 8th of September 2022 in her 70th year on the throne of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. She will forever be remembered as an example of kindness, devotion, modesty and stability in an ever-changing world! As her historic reign is the longest there ever was on the British throne, it would be impossible to sum up her life and shining charisma in a few words! Nevertheless, let us see what the stamps assembled in this modest collection can tell us about her! As the timeless British saying of old goes, we utter you "God Save the Queen" one last time. Rest in peace, Your Majesty! And even though we are still very saddened while grieving, we would also like to express our very best wishes to her son and heir, His Majesty King Charles III, in the exercise of his royal duties, "God Save the King"! As a last note, on the magnificent photograph that we have assigned to this collection, we can see Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth (at the time) holding their young six-month-old firstborn, the future King Charles III. Please see below our brief explanation of each of these stamps in its historical context.

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		#211 (1935): The first stamp ever issued in Canada of the (at the time) Princess Elizabeth of York under the rule of her grandfather, King George V. Was this stamp a sign of providence? Because at the time, Elizabeth was not in the direct line of succession, as the heir of George V was his oldest son, King Edward VIII, who later abdicated the throne to his younger brother, King George VI (Elizabeth's father).
		#246 (1939): On this stamp, we can now see Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth with her younger sister Princess Margaret. She was then the next in line of succession of the British crown, as her father was now King George VI and this stamp was issued under his rule as a tribute to his two daughters.
		#276 (1948): This stamp commemorates the royal marriage of the then Duchess of Edinburgh Elizabeth II with her husband Philip (1921-2021), who then became His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. Philip will go on to become the longest-serving royal consort of the British monarchy until his passing in 2021, R.I.P.! In 1958, under her reign, Queen Elizabeth II will confer her husband the title of His Royal Highness the Prince Philip.
		#315 (1951): This stamp is to commemorate the 1951 royal visit to Canada of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. These were difficult times, because the health of her father King George V was deteriorating at the same time. This is the last stamp of Elizabeth issued in Canada before her ascension to the throne.
		#O33-7 (1953): These are the first definitives issued in Canada of Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II, who ascended to the throne in 1952. We chose to include the "G" overprinted official stamps rather than the regular issue (#325-9), because it is easy to forget than in her early reign, the official stamps were still in use. This set is known as the Karsh issue, because the stamp is based on a photograph taken by the famous Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh.
		#386 (1959): A commemorative to celebrate the 1959 royal visit of the Queen to Canada. This was a Canadian landmark moment as she came to inaugurate the famous St. Lawrence Seaway. It was done aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia and she was joined by none other than the great U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was also one of the only four serving American five-star Generals of the Army during the Second World War.
		#401-5: The iconic Cameo issue from 1962-3 with five different shiny colours, it is so easily recognizable! These were also the last official stamps ever issued (#O46-9). Not high in value and therefore stamps that every Canadian philatelist should own!
		#454-60, 543-4 (1967-1973): The little philatelic treasure that is the low value Centennial definitives! Issued in honour of the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation (1967), there is a staggering number of different varieties for this issue! Plus, most of them are inexpensive, so they are great for a lot of philatelic fun! We included them as originally issued, that is on dextrine gum, untagged and on dull fluorescent paper.
		#620-1 (1973): The beautiful silver and gold large commemoratives to mark the royal visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to Ottawa in order to open the meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1973.
		#704 (1977): Another beautiful large commemorative with a high value of 25¢ (for the time). This stamp was issued to celebrate the Queen Silver Jubilee, as in 1977 it was her 25th year on the throne! She therefore rejoined her grandfather, King George V, who also reached a Silver Jubilee. In fact, it was under this celebration that we saw the first Canadian stamp of Elizabeth in 1935 (#211).
		#713, 716, 789, 791, 792, 926, 926A (1977-1987): The definitives issued from the late 1970s to the late 1980s with the same beautiful Queen portrait in many vibrant colours. We love this design as it is reminiscent of an old Roman bust sculpted in marble. These are also affordable, so every Canadian philatelist would be able to treasure them!
		#1856 (2000): If you think this stamp is in honour of Queen Elizabeth, you are right. But notice we didn't say Elizabeth II... because this is in fact the mother of Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, who was graciously called the Queen Mother. She was also queen, because she was the royal consort of their father, King George VI. This stamp is commemorating her 100th birthday. She passed away in 2002 at the age of 101, R.I.P.!
		#1932 (2002): In this commemorative, it is the Queen's 50th year on the throne that is celebrated, therefore her Golden Jubilee! But little did we know at the time, the Queen would go on to collect two more jubilees in the next 20 years!
		#1987 (2003): The next year, in a lovely move, Canada Post issued a commemorative with the same design as the previous Golden Jubilee, but with a purple background! This time it is to celebrate the 50th year since her coronation, which happened in 1953! As we may find out soon, it can take quite a while to prepare a royal coronation ceremony. Our best wishes to His Majesty King Charles III!
		#2150 (2006): The next milestone for the Queen was her 80th birthday, which she gracefully reached in 2006. In this beautiful souvenir sheet, we are immediately reminded of Her Majesty tenderness with a beautiful flower bouquet in her hands and her lovely dignified green outfit... She will be sorely missed!
		#2465b (2012): This is the thematic collection #167 which celebrates the royal wedding of the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge (at the time) Prince William and his wife Catherine. Since his father Charles III ascension to the throne, William is now the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne. This beautiful collection includes the souvenir sheet #2465b.
		#2540a (2012): In this stunningly beautiful souvenir sheet, the Queen rejoined her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria with her Diamond Jubilee celebrating her 60th year on the throne! The stamp is definitely a throwback to the ageless issue of the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee in 1987, adored by many generations of philatelists, bravo Canada Post!
		#2685 (2013): The following year, the Queen got an even better gift, the birth of Prince William and Princess Catherine firstborn, Prince George! He is currently the next in line of succession to the royal throne after his father. We pray that one day we may see King George VII take the British crown! He is Elizabeth’s great-grandson.
		#2859i (2015): A historic day for a historic reign! On the 9th of September 2015, Queen Elizabeth II surpassed the record reign of Queen Victoria of 63 years, 7 months and 2 days. From that day forward, the Queen was extending the record for the longest reign of the British crown every day, congratulations Your Majesty!
		#3317 (2022): Before she sadly passed away, Her Majesty had one last big milestone in reserve for us! On the 6th of February 2022, she reached the incredible celebration of her Platinum Jubilee on her 70th year on the throne. Oh, how the world has changed since 1952... But throughout all these years, the Queen of the U.K. and Commonwealth has not changed, which stood as a wall of stability and grace, like a mother looking after her children! How lucky we have been, farewell, Your Majesty! Please continue to look after us!