The Prime Ministers set of eight stamps, to be issued on October 14, feature some of Britain’s most influential civilian leaders, four of them from the 18th and 19th centuries and the other four from the 20th century.
The office of Prime Minister was not created, but evolved over a long period of time.
Officially, the post is still First Lord of the Treasury, although the term ‘Prime Minister’ came into use as a convenience around 200 years ago.
On June 24 Royal Mail will issue a miniature sheet of four stamps in memory of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who died on April 9 at the age of 99.
Having married Princess Elizabeth in November 1947, Philip gave up a stellar career in the Royal Navy when she ascended the throne as Queen Elizabeth II in February 1952.
He would become the longest-serving royal consort in British history, supporting the monarch in all her work until his retirement from royal duties in 2017.
The latest in Royal Mail’s ongoing Music Giants series, issued on July 9, celebrates Queen, one of Britain’s most successful rock bands.
Eight counter-sheet stamps illustrate the covers of a selection of their most popular albums, in their golden age from 1974-91.
The accompanying Queen Live miniature sheet of five stamps features four photographic images of live performances, one focusing on each band member, and one promotional group shot.
The Racehorse Legends issue, released on April 6, honours eight equine legends of flat racing and national hunt racing in Britain.
Illustrated by Michael Heslop, each stamp shows a famous horse in action during one of its most celebrated races, with five different racecourses featured in all.
The horses selected are among the most popular and successful in racing history, from the mid 1960s to the present day.
Royal Mail will celebrate the centenary of the Royal Air Force with a set of six counter-sheet stamps and a four-stamp miniature sheet on March 20.
Established on April 1, 1918, through the merger of the Royal Flying Corps (the air arm of the British Army) and the Royal Naval Air Service (the air arm of the Royal Navy), the RAF is the world’s oldest independent air force, in the sense that it is not controlled by another branch of the military.
It played major roles in winning World War I and World War II (not least in protecting Britain from invasion by Germany in 1940), in projecting British power during the Cold War, and in waging more recent conflicts such as the Falklands War, the Gulf War, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Royal Mail starts a five-part annual series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the First World War on July 28, with a set of six stamps linked to the first year of the conflict, 1914.
Further appropriate issues will follow in 2015-18 inclusive.
If the set looks incoherent at first glance, Royal Mail has made it clear there is a carefully planned rationale behind it.
A set of six stamps to be issued on April 17 will celebrate wildlife which has been successfully reintroduced into Britain following its extinction in the wild.
In the past two centuries it is estimated that more than 400 species of animals and plants have disappeared from the UK, usually due to the loss, degradation or fragmentation of their natural habitats.
Thanks to the efforts of conservationists, scientists and volunteers, however, a number of programmes have successfully reintroduced some to their former environments, where they are flourishing once more.
The Remarkable Lives stamp issue, to be released on March 25, is the latest in what seems to have become an annual series celebrating important figures in modern British culture, following on from Eminent Britons in 2009, Britons of Distinction in 2012 and Great Britons in 2013.
Each of this year’s honorees was born a century ago, in 1914.
They include two actors, a theatre director, a writer, an economist, a broadcaster, a scientist, a footballer, a graphic designer and a war heroine.
Scenes from each of Jane Austen’s six published novels feature on a set of stamps marking the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride & Prejudice.
Released on February 21, the stamps use illustrations by Angela Barrett which were commissioned especially for the issue.
The set was designed by Webb & Webb and printed in lithography by Cartor.
A set of eight stamps entitled Roman Britain, issued on June 18, celebrated ancient buildings and artefacts which survive today as a reminder of the occupation.
Much of mainland Great Britain was a province of the Roman Empire for almost 400 years, from the invasion of 43 AD to the withdrawal of troops in 410 AD.
At its greatest extent, the province of Britannia comprised all of England and Wales, and parts of southern Scotland.
Royal Mail is celebrating The Romantic Poets with a set of 10 stamps issued on April 7, the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Wordsworth.
Romanticism is the name given to the cultural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, taking comfort in nature during a time of political and industrial revolution.
The Romantic poets cherished lakes and mountains, birdsong and flowers, rainbows and starry skies, as beautiful constants in times of stress and change.
The 250th anniversary of the Royal Academy of Arts is marked by a set of stamps issued on June 5.
Royal Mail specially commissioned works of art by six current Royal Academicians, several of which give a personal impression of the organisation’s famous Summer Exhibition, which has been held every year since 1769.
Founded in 1768 by King George III, the RA is an independent, privately funded institution, with charitable status, led by eminent artists and architects, whose aim is to promote the visual arts.
Royal Mail’s 2016 celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of operating an organised postal service will get underway with a stamp issue on February 17.
Entitled Royal Mail 500, the issue comprises a set of six individual stamps giving a flavour of how a formal postal network was established and expanded, plus a four-stamp Classic GPO Posters miniature sheet reproducing advertising posters of the mid-20th century.
Royal Mail says it has chosen to celebrate its big anniversary this year because the importance of the office of Master of the Posts was recognised when its first holder, Brian Tuke, was knighted by King Henry VIII in 1516.
Royal Mail will issue a set of eight stamps paying tribute to Royal Navy Ships on September 19.
As an island nation, Britain’s prowess in shipbuilding and navigation has been crucial in its history, and the Royal Navy was key to forging the British Empire and to keeping enemies at bay, from the Spanish Armada to the Nazis.
The oldest of the armed forces (and therefore known as the ‘senior service’), Royal Navy has its roots in the English Navy of Tudor times and was formally established in 1546.
