After the death of Queen Elizabeth all kinds of changes are being made in the day to day functioning of the British Monarchy. One of those changes? A new royal cipher for King Charles III.
What is a Royal Cypher?
A royal cipher is a monogram-like symbol used by the monarchy. It usually consists of the reigning emperor’s name and title initials, with the letters intertwined and topped with a crown emblem. These cyphers appear everywhere from official royal and government documents to mailboxes.
Queen Elizabeth had the letters “E” and “R”, joined by “II”, indicating that she was the second Queen Elizabeth I. Buckingham Palace recently revealed King Charles’ royal cipher, which will now appear on royal documents.
Why is the Scottish cipher different, as well as Queen Elizabeth’s trouble with the Scottish cipher?
The king’s cipher is attached to the “C” and “R” with the “III” in the center of the R. The letters are under a crown. However, there is also another version of King Charles’s cipher: the second version is for Scotland and contains a picture of the Scottish crown instead of the British Tudor crown.
The King’s mother had her own issues when it came time to design the cipher for use in Scotland. Referred to as “the Pillar Box Wars”, many objected to the cypher because it featured an “II”, implying that Queen Elizabeth I ruled Scotland.
In 1953, legal action was also taken to challenge Queen Elizabeth’s right to call herself Elizabeth II in Scotland. Although, the matter was raised Due to the fact that it came under royal prerogative, which meant that the queen was allowed to adopt any title she wanted to call herself.
Will King Charles’s cipher appear on the mailbox?
Now that King Charles’ royal letter has been revealed, the emblem may begin to be placed on documents. However, the ciphers on British mailboxes will remain the same; Post office boxes bear the insignia of the emperor who was in power when the box was installed.
Most of the mailboxes you see in the UK today have Queen Elizabeth’s cipher as many mailboxes were replaced during her 70-year reign. However, there are still some British mailboxes that contain ciphers for monarchs before the Queen’s reign.
The oldest post office box still in use is on Guernsey, a small island in the English Channel. It has the initials of Queen Victoria, whose reign ended with her death in 1901. Now that King Charles has an official cypher, British citizens may start seeing it pop up on post office boxes.
