The Royal Mail will pay tribute to rock royalty Queen by releasing a new set of stamps celebrating the group's contribution to UK music.
A total of 13 stamps will be released on July 9, with eight of them featuring a selection of their album covers: Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night At The Opera, News Of The World, The Game, Greatest Hits, The Works and Innuendo.
Four other stamps in the collection will celebrate their live performances with images of Freddie Mercury at Wembley Stadium in 1986, Roger Taylor at London’s Hyde Park in 1976, John Deacon at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in 1975, and Brian May in Budapest in 1986.
The final stamp will showcase Queen’s first-ever studio photoshoot which was taken by Johnny Dewe Mathews in Primrose Hill in 1974.
Guitarist Brian May says: “It’s hard to put into words what I feel when looking at these beautiful stamps. Since we four precocious boys started out on our quest 50 years ago, our lives have been devoted to making our impossible dream come true.
“Sometimes it’s strange to wake up and realise the position in which we are now held – we have become a national institution! And nothing brings this home more than this incredible tribute from Royal Mail.
“It’s particularly poignant to look at this collection of images now – now that we are all in a world dominated by a coronavirus, in which none of this could have happened.
“I just know that I feel an overwhelming desire to own one of these sets! Somehow it will be a way of persuading myself that it really did all happen!”
Drummer Roger Taylor adds: “Wow… stamps featuring our albums! What an honour. We must be really part of the furniture now! Thanks Royal Mail for stamping on us! In gratitude."
The Royal Mail’s Philip Parker says: “With their truly original, theatrical sound and effortless ability to mix musical styles, Queen are rock royalty. We pay tribute to one of the most loved bands of all time with these stunning stamps.”
Queen join the Beatles and Pink Floyd as the only music groups to have a dedicated stamp issue.
The Queen stamp collection is available to pre-order now direct from the Royal Mail.
