The first UK post box was erected in Jersey in 1852 and the first British mainland one in 1853 in Carlisle. These were during the reign of Queen Victoria and bore her initials VR. The 'R' in a monarch's initials stands for either ‘Regina’ or ‘Rex’, which is Latin for Queen or King. With each new monarch the initials and cypher changed.
There have now been 6 different monarchs featured on UK post boxes, one is yet to appear from King Charles III
Queen Victoria
Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901, there are approx 3,000 post boxes featuring her cypher
King Edward 7th
Edward reigned from 1901 to 1910, there are approx ??? post boxes featuring his cypher
King George 5th
George reigned from 1910 to 1936, there are approx ??? post boxes featuring his cypher
King Edward 8th
Edward reigned only reigned for 326 days in 1936, there are approx 150 post boxes featuring his cypher
King George 6th
George reigned from 1936 to 1952, there are approx ??? post boxes featuring his cypher
Queen Elizabeth 2nd
Elizabeth reigned from 1952 to 2022, there are approx ??? post boxes featuring her cypher
King Charles 3rd
Charles reigned from 2022, there are currently no post boxes featuring his cypher.
Local examples
