The UK’s Royal Mail has honored Queen and their late frontman Freddie Mercury in its newest postal stamps.
The 13 special stamps celebrate one of the most successful rock bands of all time. Queen has sold over 300 million records worldwide over five decades.
Queen’s lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury, died in 1991 at age 45 due to complications from AIDS. However the bisexual singer songwriter has left a lasting legacy as one of the most influential artists in rock music history.
One of the stamps remembers his flamboyant stage performances. It depicts Mercury performing to a crowd of 72,000 at London’s Wembley Stadium in 1986.
Other stamps in the collection show live performances from fellow band members Roger Taylor, John Deacon and Brian May.
Meanwhile the collection also has stamps showing the band’s most iconic album covers. They are Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night at the Opera, News of the World, The Game, Greatest Hits, The Works and Innuendo.
‘We have become a national institution’
Brian May said: ‘It’s hard to put into words what I feel when looking at these beautiful stamps.
‘Since we four precocious boys started out on our quest 50 years ago, our lives have been devoted to making our impossible dream come true.
‘Sometimes it’s strange to wake up and realise the position in which we are now held – we have become a national institution!
‘It’s particularly poignant to look at this collection of images now – now that we are all in a world dominated by a coronavirus, in which none of this could have happened.
‘I just know that I feel an overwhelming desire to own one of these sets! Somehow it will be a way of persuading myself that it really DID all happen!’
Queen as approved by Queen Elizabeth
However, it is far from being the first time Queen has achieved recognition.
Alongside a batch of platinum, multi-platinum and gold albums, the four have won numerous Ivor Novello and BRIT awards. Queen is also in the Grammy Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
The band has also featured on a commemorative UK £5 coin.
Meanwhile various organizations continue to remember Freddie Mercury.
Indeed, Norwegian Airlines even depicted him on the tailfins of two of their Boeing jets.
Google dedicated a Google Doodle to him in 2011. And last August, San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood inducted him to their Rainbow Honor Walk of fame.
Moreover scientists have named an asteroid after him. And one artist has even created a Freddie Mercury LEGO figure.
But it was the 2018 film, Bohemian Rhapsody, that reinvigorated their worldwide fame. The Oscar-winning movie exposed Queen and Freddie Mercury to new fans around the world.
However, Royal Mail’s recognition comes with approval from the real Queen. That’s because Queen Elizabeth agrees the design of all UK stamp designs before they enter circulation.
Fans will be able to buy a full set of the new stamps for £16 from 9 July. Meanwhile you can pre-order presentation packs here.