Hatches, Matches and Dispatches

Missing last weeks Sunday Stamps I thought I would combine its theme of monarchs and presidents and this weeks theme and start with a family photograph of the Christening of Prince Charles in 1948 with the then Princess Elizabeth. The Caribbean island of St Vincent issued a set of stamps in 1987 to celebrating both the Queen's Ruby Wedding and the 150th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne of which this is the commemorative sheet.  In a link to the latter theme the christening robes are the ones worn by Queen Victoria's children and given to Elizabeth by her grandmother Queen Mary.

1967: Albanian Paintings

It is lovely weather for a wedding here at the moment and as sunny as this one in Albanian, a detail from "Dasma Shkodrane" (Shkodra Wedding) by Kolë Idromeno (1860-1939), who was a bit of a polymath being a painter, sculpture, photographer, architect and engineer. He was the first person in 1912 to show motion pictures in Albania  and corresponded with the Lumière Brothers. His paintings and photographs show local culture and this wedding was taking place in Shkoder, the regional capital of Northern Albania and one of the oldest towns in the country. They have houses with high walls which Idromeno shows in the rest of his painting.

1947: Wedding of Princess Elizabeth

The Queen was married in slightly grander surroundings of Westminster Abbey in November 1947 which was the same place chosen by her

2011: Marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton

grandson and his bride. The cover combined the 2011 Royal Wedding stamps and  the 900th Anniversary of Westminster Abbey stamp of 1966 showing the fan vaulting of the Henry V11 Chapel .  The Abbey has been the venue of many royal marriages and even more royal coronations since 1066. Many monarchs are buried there as is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a soldier from the first World War who as the expression goes, known only to God. 

1945: Roosevelt Mourning Issue

To complete the life cycle I end with the death of Franklin D Roosevelt who probably vies with President Kennedy in the number of times appearing on other countries stamps. Roosevelt made a famous speech to the Greek resistance to fight on during the Second World War and although he did not live to see the declaration of victory in Europe he did see Greece's liberation from the Axis powers in 1944.

An entry to Viridian Postcard's Sunday Stamps theme of Birth, Marriage and Death