STAMP STORY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31107, 9 July 1966, Page 13

STAMP STORY

written for "The Press" by KENNETH ANTHONY) this curly-haired baby boy was depicted on a Newfoundland stamp in August, 1897, no-one could have foreseen that he would later become the centre of a constitutional crisis without precedent in the history of British royalty. At the time the stamp was first issued, the child was known simply as Prince Edward. Thirteen years later, I when his father ascended the throne as King George V, he became Prince of Wales. He was King Edward VIII, for an eventual reign lasting nearly 11 months in 1936, culminating in his abdication. Now he is the Duke of Windsor.

There is, of course, one big problem about showing very young children on stamps; as the child grows up, the stamp design all too rapidly becomes out-of-date. This happened with the stamp illustrated here. It was the lowest face value —intended to pay the printed paper rate—in a series showing portraits of various members of the then Royal Family. The stamps were printed in large quantities and remained in use until the end of the First World War. Long before their withdrawal Newfoundland made amends for the by-then outdated portrait of the Prince by including a more up-to-date version. It showed him as a young man in naval uniform —on the 3c. value of the