Philately: The collection and study of postage stamps. The word comes from French philatelie, derived in turn from Greek philo = loving, plus Latin ateleia = ‘exemption from payment’ referring to the franking mark or postage stamp exempting the recipient from payment. — On-line Dictionary
HER Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth has been off the radar recently, ordered, (no, one cannot order a monarch) strongly advised, to rest a while, she being of a certain age when one might consider listening to one’s doctors. She has, however, still attended to some royal duties pertaining to her most loyal subjects.
Since in my advanced years I have come to identify myself on my tax return as a retired gentleman - retired, at least - it has become my morning routine to spring lithely out of bed, check the rain gauge, sweep the possum poo off the path, feed the birds, suss out the day’s precise location of the shed’s carpet snake, and check whether any urgent messages from Her Majesty have arrived. One just never knows.
Lo, one dark wet night this last week, Her Majesty QE2 (not the hospital, but the one whose profile has never changed through the many years of its being displayed on stamps and coins), sent us the Royal Rock, with her own postage stamp of approval to authenticate its source, and popped it into our garden.
Grateful for the royal congratulations for whatever milestone we might have passed, we have been wondering ever since exactly what milestone that might have been.
Unfortunately we have not yet been able to open the royal rock to find out, and when a person gets as old as one needs to be to get a letter from the Queen, it’s easy to forget.
King George 5th introduced the system of sending greetings to loyal subjects acknowledging significant wedding anniversaries and birthdays, in 1917.
Exactly how the monarch remembers all those significant dates is a royal secret.
We have had the pleasure of knowing several people who have been honoured recipients of a letter from the Queen. One lovely old couple received several, all of which related to the duration of their marriage, capped off with their 75th anniversary.
The Queen proved herself to be an admirably frugal sender of best wishes. The letter for their 75th was worded exactly the same as for their 70th, apart from the changed numbers.
“It’s quite an effort getting to our 75th,” the old fella said, “I thought she might have sent a different letter from last time!”
I suspect you and I can’t exactly become pen pals of the Queen, but we are able to wish her well for her own birthday, of which she has had many.
The helpful internet not only gives us the address, but also a wording for a form letter, if we should not be able to think of the appropriate words.
One could begin, for example, with “Madam”, and close the letter with “I have the honour to be, Madam, Your Majesty’s humble and obedient servant.” Sounds like my letters to my wife.
We are assured that “the Queen is shown almost all of her correspondence on a daily basis by one of her private secretaries, and she takes a keen interest in the letters she receives.”
We are also reminded that “her Majesty does not intervene in any political or personal disputes” (like sacking Australian Prime Ministers) and letters asking her to do so will receive a standard reply to this effect.”
We’re not allowed to send her unsolicited presents (not just because she has run out of space) but because, believe it or not, some people might not actually like her and may seek to do her harm.
Britain had a centralised postal service in 1512.
How this service eventually became known as the Postal Service or the Post office, may have had something to do with the fact that mail was first delivered country-wide in relays on horse back, literally from “post to post”, where the horses were tied.
The riders who passed on the mail to the next post became known as “posties”, the mail they carried became “the post”, and the action of entrusting mail to the carriers became a verb, “to post.”
Letters were carried in a special bag, for which there was apparently an old French word “mail” meaning “bag, pack, or wallet.”
The bag became synonymous with its contents, as in “here comes the mail”.
Sometimes the system was used for nefarious purposes and called “black-mail”.
Overall though, it was the “Royal Mail” because the system of distribution was based on that used for royal and government documents. In the beginning, also in Australia, stamps on letters were paid for by receivers, not senders.
After a British colony was established in NSW in 1788 with the arrival of the First Fleet, the arrival of the Second Fleet in June 1790 bearing letters from home was eagerly awaited.
Marine Officer Watkins Tench wrote of the crowd that mobbed the ships: “Letters, letters, was the cry. They were produced and torn open in trembling agitation. News burst upon us like meridian splendor on a blind man!” The same thing happened as each new ship arrived. Fraud became rife as people claimed letters they had no business claiming.
The First NSW Post Office appeared in 1809. Convict Isaac Nichols was appointed by Governor Hunter as the first postmaster. He was highly praised for being “hard working, sober, honest.”
So why was he sent here in the first place? “Seven years for stealing!” Nichols became one of the wealthiest, most respected businessmen of early Sydney Town. He had the essential qualities for success.
I must away! I have a Royal Rock to open.
