The first post box bearing King Charles’s cypher has been installed, the Royal Mail has said.
It was unveiled with the help of local primary school children in High Street, Great Cambourne in south Cambridgeshire on Friday.
Pupils from Vine Inter-Church Primary were the first to use it, posting handwritten letters to the King inviting him to open their new forest school and asking for advice on sustainability.
The historic round pillar box has also been given a plaque to mark its special status as the first to carry the King’s monogram.
He has to grant Royal Mail permission to use it – as it is considered his personal property.
His cypher consists of his initial, C, the Roman numeral III, as he is Charles III, and R, which is short for Rex – the Latin for King – under a Tudor crown.
The tradition of stamping post boxes with the royal cypher dates back 170 years to Queen Victoria’s reign.
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Existing post boxes will continue to bear the late Queen Elizabeth II’s cypher – to mark the reign under which they were installed – but new and replacement boxes will now carry the King’s.
Now permission has been granted, the cypher will also be stamped on the doors of Royal Mail vehicles, replacing Queen Elizabeth’s.
The change was applied to the first 100 vans on Friday, with 290 more to be done over the next six weeks.
In total 3,636 vehicles will have their cyphers updated by October.
Royal Mail logo update in line with King
To coincide with the cypher unveiling, Royal Mail announced a change in its brand logo, known as the Cruciform.
The logo with its yellow double-lined lettering of Royal Mail, used on the company’s vehicle livery, buildings, website and stationery, will now feature the rounded Tudor Crown used by the King, rather than the arched St Edward’s crown used by the late Queen for her cypher.
Emma Gilthorpe, Royal Mail’s chief executive, said: “More than 115,000 post boxes across the UK have recorded the succession of monarchs since the first box bore the cypher of Queen Victoria.
“We thank His Majesty for granting us the use of his personal cypher as we begin the next chapter in the story of the iconic Great British post box in Great Cambourne.”
Scottish post boxes do not carry the monarch’s cypher – and are distinguishable by the St Andrews crown instead.
