We’ve started a scavenger hunt as part of our trip: a hunt for “Royal Cyphers” on Royal Mail boxes. “What,” you’re probably asking, “are you talking about? Have you had one too many pints?”
In the US public mailboxes are usually the big blue boxes on streets and in other public places. The history of the public mailboxes for the Royal Mail system here began during the reign of Queen Victoria. They are bright red and can be located in walls, on pillars, or as posts. I noticed early on that one old mailbox had the initials “V R” on it. I guessed that the V stood for Victoria. Turns out that every Queen or King has a special “Royal Cypher” or monogram which is used for many functions and on Royal Mailboxes installed during their reign. Kim and I did some research and found out that the R is Latin for Regina (Queen) or Rex (King).
Our group has managed to locate mailboxes for five out of seven rulers. Only Charles III—who has been King for just over two years, and Edward VIII, who ruled for less than a year in 1936 as he abdicated, are missing from our collection.(Incidentally, Edward VIII abdicated to marry an American Divorcee. Seems like marrying an American woman is a road to ruin for English royalty.)
Note that our Victoria mailbox cypher is a very basic one as her design evolved during her reign, as did the early mailboxes. And, the Scottish Crown Cypher in the lower left is used because of sensibilities about Elizabeth being the first Elizabeth over Scotland, not the second. There was violence to mailboxes over this issue. Ready this very interesting page for more information: https://www.postalmuseum.org/blog/royal-cyphers-on-letterboxes/
Offa’s Dyke, Day 2
Much of our non-mailbox cypher hunting time is spent hiking, our primary purpose here. Today we hiked more of the historical border between Wales and England, and in fact, spent most of our time on the English side. The weather was fantastic and we encountered great views—and cute dogs. We ended in Monmouth, noted for being yet another lovely Welsh town, and the birthplace of Henry V. This Henry is the only King of England to have been born in Wales.
Click on the picture to the left of the only King of England to be born in Wales or here to enjoy Laurie’s Relive video of our Day 2 hike on Offa’s Dyke
Waxing Poetic Over…Poo?
