The Legend of King Arthur

2021 (March 16 2021)
Commemorative

Designed by Godfrey Design
Size 35mm (h) x 35mm (v)
Printed by International Security Printers
Print Process Lithography
Perforations 14.5 x 14.5

Stamps

Merlin and the baby Arthur

1st

Merlin holds baby Arthur, the future king, whose origins remain shrouded in mystery, and in Merlin’s power, until Arthur is revealed to be Uther Pendragon’s rightful son and heir.

Arthur draws the sword from the stone

1st

Arthur’s birthright to the crown of England, according to later romance traditions, is confirmed when he pulls out the sword in view of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the whole court.

Arthur takes Excalibur

1st

Arthur’s famed sword, Excalibur, is the gift of the Lady of the Lake, and a symbol of his tutelage by Merlin and his mission in the world. Destined for greatness, Arthur excels in all human virtues.

Arthur marries Guinevere

1st

Despite Merlin’s warnings, Arthur chooses Guinevere as his wife. Her dowry, Thomas Malory tells us, is the Round Table, which Arthur will use to build a fellowship of knights united around the values of loyalty and equality.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

1st

Arthur’s nephew and chief counsellor, Sir Gawain, here swings his axe to chop off the head of the Green Knight, whose deadly Christmas game of blows startles Arthur’s court and challenges its values.

Knights of the Round Table

£1.70

Around the Round Table, knights from Europe and all nations in the British Isles share the same values of loyalty and unite as equals to protect the weak and defend the realm.

Sir Lancelot defeats the dragon

£1.70

Emblematic since Arthur Rackham’s illustrations dating from the early 20th century, Lancelot’s slaying of the dragon shows God’s grace granted to Lancelot in the fight with the Devil/darkness, despite Lancelot’s own sins.

Sir Galahad and the Holy Grail

£1.70

Sir Galahad, the pure knight, is the epitome of perfection among Round Table knights, and the opposite of his father, Lancelot. His unique success in the Grail Quest reveals the moral failures of Arthurian chivalry.

Arthur battles Mordred

£1.70

Arthur and Mordred meet one last time in battle, fulfilling their destiny: Arthur’s, to be mortally wounded by his own son, and Mordred’s, to commit the sin of patricide and treason.

The death of King Arthur

£1.70

The wounded Arthur departs for Avalon on a barge driven by three queens. This represents hope for the king’s return, and the agency of women in healing and in preserving his memory and stories.