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Eight photographs of the Queen, all taken by The Sun's royal photographer, Arthur Edwards MBE, have been chosen for a set of stamps by the Isle of Man Post Office to mark Her Majesty’s 90th birthday.
The Manx stamps officially go on sale this Saturday (February 6), the 64th anniversary of the day Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne on the death of her father.
Each of the eight stunning pictures is a personal favourite of royal photographer Arthur who has spent 40 years travelling the world taking pictures of the Queen and her family for The Sun, Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper.
The colour photographs make up a series of stamps titled ‘Long To Reign Over Us’ to commemorate the Queen’s 90th birthday, on April 21.
Each stamp was personally approved by the monarch, who is known on the island as Her Majesty the Queen, Lord of Mann (corr).
You can buy this set of stamps – there’s also a first day cover, complete with an historic launch-date postmark – from the Isle of Man Post Office at iomstamps.com
Arthur, now 75, took his first photo of the Queen during the long, hot summer of 1976 and has continued to photograph her for the last four decades.
He says: “I have probably the best job in the world photographing the Queen and her amazing family.
“It’s a great honour and an immense thrill to have my photographs showcased in such a prestigious way.
“I hope my images will give people as much pleasure as I had when taking them.”
Arthur’s photos for this unique stamp collection include portraits from the Queen’s historic visit to Ireland in 2011, the most memorable of the 200 foreign tours he has covered, to a walkabout in Windsor High Street on Her Majesty’s 80th birthday.
Maxine Cannon, from Isle of Man Post Office said: “I first met Arthur in 2003, when H M Queen Elizabeth and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh presided over our Tynwald Day ceremony.
“It was especially memorable as the late Sir Norman Wisdom was larking about and Arthur captured the moment perfectly, the photograph has been in our office ever since.
“We were thrilled when Arthur agreed to prepare an album of his favourite images for our 90th Birthday tribute.”
Arthur, who became an MBE in 2003 for his services to newspapers, will attend UK Stampex - the premier stamp expo – at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London on February 17, from 2pm to 3.30 to sign his stamps.
