Face Value

Princess Elizabeth first appeared on a Canadian stamp on May 4, 1935, the same day that her father, the Duke of York, not yet the heir apparent, appeared on one of his own. Both stamps, part of a series of six to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of King George V’s ascension to the throne, were designed by Herman Herbert Schwartz, the Nova Scotian who is perhaps best known for his iconic fifty-cent Bluenose stamp from 1929. As a princess, Elizabeth graced three additional Canadian stamps before her own ascension to the throne on February 6, 1952, after which she would feature on more than seventy as a queen.

Canada Post honoured Elizabeth’s grandson Prince William for the first time in April 2011, two weeks before his wedding to Catherine Middleton. At a Rideau Hall ceremony, the governor general, David Johnston, helped unveil two photographic depictions of William and Kate...