Britons up and down the country are only just finding out what the symbols on the front of postboxes mean. Certain postboxes feature unique letter combinations which to the untrained eye may seem random.
However, those enjoying their local postbox’s knitted topper this week may notice some letters on the front of the pillar.
The Postal Museum has unveiled what the various letters on the front of the postbox mean in a tweet.
The museum explained that the letters are a royal cypher with the earliest dating back to the reign of Queen Victoria.
The royal cyphers signify which monarch was on the throne during the postbox’s creation and therefore what time period they are from.
“When the monarch changes, new pillar boxes do not replace old but are added to those in use, and this is why Britain has such an array of boxes,” it added.
Some of the oldest postboxes in the country will have the royal cypher “VR” which signifies the initials of Queen Victoria who reigned from 1837 to 1901.
Postboxes erected during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign have the royal cypher “EIIR” which stands for “Elizabeth II Regina”. Regina translates to “Queen” in Latin.
Another popular cypher is “GR” which stands for King George V. The “R” stands for Rex which means “King” in Latin.
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New postboxes are expected to have the royal cypher “CR” which will stand for “Charles” and “Rex”.
Less than 200 postboxes were produced with King Edward VIII’s cypher on them as he only reigned for 326 days before abdicating.
George VI’s cyphers are also rare as he only reigned for 16 years and six of those were during World War Two.
During the war, iron production was used elsewhere so the variety and number of boxes was less compared to others.
However, in Scotland, pillar boxes do not have “EIIR” on them as Scottish people did not accept Queen Elizabeth as the second monarch with her name; Queen Elizabeth I was never ruler of Scotland.
Despite the royal cyphers being on postboxes since 1852, many people were not aware of what the letters meant.
One royal fan said: “Posted many a card and letters in [postboxes] and lived around the corner [from one] over 60 years and didn’t know that!”
Another said: “My youngest was absolutely fascinated by this and we’ve been spotting them.”
