London’s new postboxes will be getting different markings

You’ve probably noticed that London has a patchwork of different postboxes. The array of boxes that make up the landscape of the city are mismatched because, instead of being replaced with every change in monarch, they are just added to when a new post box is needed.

The cypher on the postbox is how you can identify who was on the throne when the box was installed. For example, during the reign of King George V the cypher (which, by the way, is a designed initial) was GR (G for George and the R standing for ‘Rex’). The rarest you can spot out and about on your London walks will be for Edward III, who was on the throne for just under a year. If you see a ‘ER VIII’ when you are next posting some mail then you’ll be using a pretty unique pillar box!

So what about the new boxes? Now Charles is ruling, any new boxes erected will have the cypher ‘CR’- which stands for, in the same pattern as many before him, ‘Charles Rex’. The royal cypher was designed by the College of Arms and picked out from a selection by Charlie himself. They’ll be on all the new postboxes, as well as government buildings and state documents. It will be used by government departments and by the royal household too.

If you want to find your local box and see which royal cypher is stamped on it, check out this map here.