Thursday, 24 November 2016

...Royal signatures

This insert from a Christmas card sent in 1939 by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth was rescued from a waste paper bin, hence the cigarette burn.

By legend, the card - of which the picture part is missing -  was sent to a close relative of Queen Elizabeth, the mother of our present Queen.

Then, as now, it was common for royal signatures to be done by an autopen machine, since so many royal signatures were required. And it is possible that the King's signature here was done in that manner. However, it is likely that the card was genuinely signed by Queen Elizabeth because she omitted the letter "R" for Regina from the end of her name, which you normally see on her autopen signature, and one would expect that a card sent to (say) a sister, aunt or cousin to be personally signed.





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