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| 1980: 200th Anniversary of the Death of Empress Maria Theresa |
Empress Maria Theresa, only female monarch in Hapsburg history, pragmatic ruler in the 'Age of Enlightened Absolutism'. She brought peace to Austria, well after the little matter of the War of the Austrian Succession'. No-one was expecting a woman to rule. The stamp set show her in her youth (missing from my collection 😞), in middle age when she had had 16 children and maybe quite a few of a Hapsburg favourite, Meringue Cake (three layers of meringue filled with fruit preserve) and in her later years as a widow. Unusually for the age despite being betrothed to her future husband as a child it was a love match. After her death they found a scrap of paper in her prayer book where she had calculated the total number of years, months, days and hours they had been together.
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| 1947-1948 Sun Yat-sen) |
Jumping forward in time here is the China's 'Father of the Nation', and first president, a position he quickly resigned from. This stamp with plum blossom was issued long after his death.
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| 1972: 90th Birthday of King Gustaf VI Adolf |
This set of booklet stamps was issued with 1 kr going to the King Gustaf VI Adolf Birthday Fund for Swedish Culture. It shows some of his interests as a collector of books and graphic works, Chinese objects from his collection, reading a speech from the Swedish throne, two Greek objects d'art and the King in the garden of Solliden Castle.
Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Heads of State - See It On A Postcard
3 comments:
Tyou really need to enlarge these stamps to truly appreciate the details in these engravings. I am coveting those Swedish ones! Such informal poses that we are not used to with our monarchs.
Maria Theresa somehow looks a little less stern in her widow stamp.
I like engraved stamps, although "heads of state" isn't my favourite theme. The life of Marie Theresa must be an interesting one to learn from.
Interesting stamps!
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