News releases

OTTAWA – Canada Post's latest stamp features a portrait of then-Princess Elizabeth months before her accession to the throne. The image is part of a series of famous pictures taken by renowned Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh in 1951.

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, along with Jessica L. McDonald, Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and CEO of Canada Post, unveiled the stamp during a ceremony at Rideau Hall.

At 25, Elizabeth became Queen when her father, King George VI, died in the winter of 1952. Her coronation was delayed to allow for an appropriate mourning period. The coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953. Three million people lined the streets of London along the procession route. Canadians celebrated with fireworks, parades and horse races; and the Governor General issued a silver spoon to each Canadian child born on coronation day.

An estimated 227 million people around the world watched the coronation, which was the first to be televised. Other firsts followed:

• Queen Elizabeth was the first monarch to be crowned Queen of Canada.
• She was the first British monarch to visit Australia and New Zealand.
• On her first Royal Tour of Canada in 1957, she became the first sovereign to open Parliament by reading the Speech from the Throne.
• The Queen has made 22 Royal Tours of Canada – more than any other nation in the Commonwealth.
• In 2007, she became the longest-living British monarch and in 2015 she became Britain's longest-reigning monarch.  

 Click here for stamp images and Details magazine.

For more information:
Media Relations
613-734-8888
media@canadapost.ca