The Queen Elizabeth II domestic rate stamp is a definitive stamp issued by

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

, and bearing the image of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

Queen of Canada The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is at the core of Canada's constitutional Canadian federalism, federal structure and Westminster system, Westminster-style Parliamentar ...

. Eight versions of the stamp have been issued since 2003.

Background

Canada has depicted its sovereigns on stamps since 1851; that tradition continues into the present day. Since 1939, the image of

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

has appeared on 59 stamps issued in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, most of them definitives. Canada Post spokesperson Cindy Daoust was quoted as stating that stamps bearing the image of the Queen now "outsells other stamps, ten to one, whether it's a commemorative edition or definitive one."

Design

Rideau Hall Rideau Hall (officially Government House) is the official residence in Ottawa of both the Canadian monarch and their representative, the governor general of Canada. It stands in Canada's capital on a estate at 1 Sussex Drive, with the main b ...

, on December 19, 2003,

Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...

Adrienne Clarkson Adrienne Louise Clarkson (; ; born February 10, 1939) is a Hong Kong-born Canadian journalist who served from 1999 to 2005 as Governor General of Canada, the 26th since Canadian Confederation. Clarkson arrived in Canada with her family in 19 ...

, along with

President and CEO

André Ouellet André Ouellet (), (born April 6, 1939) is a former longtime Liberal federal politician and Cabinet member in Canada. Following his political career, he served as chairman of Canada Post. First elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a ...

, and Canadian pop music artist and photographer

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

, unveiled a 49 cent domestic rate Canada Post definitive stamp bearing the image of Queen Elizabeth II. Canada Post issued this stamp partly at the urging of the

Monarchist League of Canada The Monarchist League of Canada (french: Ligue monarchiste du Canada) is a Canadian nonprofit monarchist advocacy organization.

; the definitives were issued as double ''commemorative-definitives'' (normally these types of stamps are different) to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee. Using a black-and-white photographic portrait of the Queen, taken by Adams during a five-minute session with the Queen at Buckingham Palace, Saskia van Kampen of the Toronto graphics firm Gottschalk + Ash cropped the image, placed the Queen's face off-centre and gave it a

sepia Sepia may refer to: Biology * ''Sepia'' (genus), a genus of cuttlefish Color * Sepia (color), a reddish-brown color * Sepia tone, a photography technique Music * ''Sepia'', a 2001 album by Coco Mbassi * ''Sepia'' (album) by Yu Takahashi * " ...

tone wash. The informal portrait was a break from the tradition of using official portraits or effigies of monarchs on Canadian stamps. Adams said of his picture as a "glimpse of the real person... The thing that made this photo win out, was her charming smile. It is a one in a million." This stamp was released again on December 20, 2004, as a 50 cent domestic with a blue wash, chosen to contrast with the colour of the previous stamp. As a security measure, but also to provide greater depth of colour, the blue tint consisted of six different colours. On January 14, 2019, another permanent stamp was introduced, featuring a picture taken in 2017, at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Non-denominated stamps

It was announced on September 19, 2006, that a series of new definitives would be issued in December of that year, as a non-denominated stamp, which will remain valid for domestic first class mail (up to 30g) through any future postal rate increases. The new series included a ''Queen stamp'', which used a colour image taken during her tour to celebrate the centennials of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

and

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. A "P" in the lower right-hand corner appears instead of a numerical value to indicate it is good for the basic domestic letter rate. The second version of this stamp was issued on December 27, 2007, featuring an image of the Queen during her 2005 visit to

and

.Canada Post: ''New 2008 definitive stamps light the way for the New Year''; December 11, 2007

References

{{Elizabeth II Postage stamps of Canada Monarchy in Canada Bryan Adams Stamps depicting Elizabeth II