AN ALL WORLD ACCUMULATION HOUSED IN THREE VOLUMES COMPRISING 1850-1857

The Royal Philatelic Collection began in 1865 and is, to this day, the world's most comprehensive collection of postage stamps devoted to Great Britain and the Commonwealth. The young Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII (1841-1910) and his younger brother Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (1844-1900) were the first Royal philatelists.

Their love of stamps was fostered in the next generation by King George V (1865-1936) who went on to become Executive President of what is now the Royal Philatelic Soceity, London, between the years 1896 and 1910. Indeed, the tradition lives on -- continued by both King George VI (1895-1952) and by the present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II (b.1926).