GB: Royal Wedding marked with miniature sheet

 

Royal Mail will issue a miniature sheet of four stamps to celebrate the wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton.
It will be released on the Queen’s birthday, April 21, eight days before the wedding in Westminster Abbey on April 29.
The sheet features two different official engagement photographs of the couple by Princess Diana’s favourite photographer, Mario Testino, who is Peruvian. The formal image on the two £1.10 values was taken in the Council Chamber of St James’s Palace, while the informal shot on the two 1st class values was taken in the Cornwall Room.
Each of the stamps bears the date of the wedding, and the sheet’s grey border carries the inscription ‘The Royal Wedding HRH Prince William of Wales & Miss Catherine Middleton’ in both Welsh and English.
The Queen and Prince William both gave approval for the stamps.
This is the third time the Prince has appeared on a Royal Mail issue, following the Queen Mother’s 100th Birthday miniature sheet in 2000 and his own 21st Birthday set in 2003.
A ‘commemorative document’ will be marketed after the wedding, with images from the day and a miniature sheet tied to the document by a commemorative postmark.
Royal Mail also promises a souvenir cover and a selection of coin covers, the most expensive priced at £1,750 with a gold coin in a limited edition of 50.

VERDICT

COMMEMORATIVE WORTH   
Marking the wedding of the man who will one day be King is what stamps are for

QUALITY OF DESIGN    
It’s classy and understated, as well as appropriate to the occasion, but is it perhaps a trifle dull?

WOW FACTOR    
Will the sheets be bought for use as postage when they include £1.10 values?
If not, who will see them?

PRICES

Miniature sheet    £3.12
Presentation pack    £3.65
Commemorative document    £9.99
First day cover    £4.22
Souvenir cover    £7.49
TOTAL    £28.47

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