Queen honoured with Royal Mail stamps for band's 50th anniversary

To celebrate legendary rock band Queen’s golden anniversary, Britain’s Royal Mail has issued 13 special postage stamps to honour the group.

Formed in 1970, the band, made up of Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and the late Freddie Mercury, completes 50 years in the music industry this year.

The collection is inspired by the group’s most popular album covers, as well as live performances.

Eight of the stamps will feature images of Queen’s most iconic album covers, including 1974 LP, ‘Queen II’, ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ (1974), ‘A Night At The Opera ‘(1975), ‘News Of The World’ (1977), ‘The Game’ (1980), ‘Greatest Hits’ (1981), ‘The Works’ (1984) and the band’s final studio album to be released during Freddie’ lifetime, ‘Innuendo’ (1991).

The special collection also has live shots of each of the four band members: Freddie at Wembley Stadium in 1986, Roger at Hyde Park in 1976, John at Hammersmith Odeon in 1975 and Brian in Budapest in 1986 as well as a black and white image of the group shot by Johnny Dewe Mathews from the their first-ever studio photoshoot.

“With their truly original, theatrical sound and effortless ability to mix musical styles, Queen are rock royalty. We pay tribute to one of the most loved bands of all time with these stunning stamps,” Philip Parker of Royal Mail said in a statement to Mirror.

Brian said the tribute beautifully captures the group’s journey from being a no body to emerging as a “national institution”.

''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!

“Nothing brings this home more than this incredible tribute from Royal Mail. 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,” he said.

Queen is only the third music group to have a dedicated stamp issue, following the Beatles in 2007 and Pink Floyd in 2016.

The stamps are available to pre-order from Royal Mail's website in a number of different collections, including the complete Presentation Pack for 16 pounds.