King Charles once featured on special commemorative stamps issued by North Korea, which the totalitarian communist regime debuted in 1981, as new information has been revealed.
The then-Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding was celebrated with the bizarre, and totally unauthorised, tribute.
A set of stamps emerged two months following the July royal wedding, 46 years ago, targeting the lucrative international collector market.
Foreign Office records, discovered by NK News, show Pyongyang’s government were hoping to generate substantial revenue with the sale of these collectables.
King Charles was featured on North Korean stamps to celebrate his wedding, as Prince of Wales, to Lady Diana
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North Korea has long propped up its ailing economy with black market activity, ranging from weapons trafficking to counterfeit currency and now, it has emerged, bootleg royal memorabilia.
A Beijing-based British embassy official first noticed the stamps after they appeared in an English-language North Korean government publication.
The diplomat characterised them as “pretty excessive even for them,” according to The Times.
They sarcastically added that: “Perhaps the GPO (General Post Office) should retaliate and include Kim Il-sung (the grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un) in their forthcoming ‘geriatric dictators of the world’ set of commemoratives.”
The unauthorised stamps featured the couple and were intended to generate income for the totalitarian state
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British officials attempted to secure specimens for the Royal Philatelic Collection, noting “it would be rather nice to present them to the Palace.”
However, stamp merchant Stanley Gibbons offered them solely within a comprehensive royal wedding set priced at £600.
The diplomat observed: “I have no doubt the Palace would in fact take any North Korean stamps. But they are clearly not actively looking for mementos of this kind from Pyongyang.”
The four stamps incorporated images from the wedding ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral, scenes within Buckingham Palace, and moments on the palace balcony.
The dictatorship is now ruled by Kim Jong Un
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At least one photograph was captured by Lord Lichfield, the official wedding photographer, and reproduced without consent.
NK News revealed that Pyongyang continued this practice, creating stamps marking the couple’s initial wedding anniversary in 1982.
Additional commemorative issues appeared that year celebrating Prince William’s arrival and Princess Diana’s 21st birthday.
While the stamps may have been an authorised tribute, Pyongyang and Buckingham Palace have shared official correspondence in the past.
Despite their apparent radical ideological differences, Pyongyang and Buckingham Palace have shared official correspondence
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North Korea frequently transmitted birthday wishes to Queen Elizabeth II, who responded with congratulations marking North Korea’s national foundation day in 2021.
King Charles continued this tradition in 2023, sending “good wishes for the future” to mark the same occasion.