What connects King Charles III to Cupertino? The link is Sir Jony Ive, once chief design guru for Apple and now the creator of the emblem that will be used extensively over the next month in the approach to the Coronation. What has this got to do with Leica or photography? Nothing. But…
Many Macfilos readers are unaware that we started off 15 years ago as a site for fans of Apple products. Hence the Mac+Filos (Macfeelos). It was a random choice decided while sitting around a taverna table in Athens with a group of Greek friends, including some keen photographers. I’d had far too much krasí for my own good. If I hadn’t been so sozzled I might have had a clearer view of the future and settled for something a bit more photographic-ish. When the Leica bug took over, however, it was too late to change the blog’s name. At least, it’s unusual in the photographic world, and I suppose it has sort of grown on us.
Goodbye Apple, hello Leica
Indeed, we very soon gravitated to cameras, particularly Leica, since I felt Apple had gone from being a nerd’s delight to a mainstream consumer company. My enthusiasm waned. And Leica is more like the old Apple I knew, so it’s probably fitting that we made the change when we did.
That said, I maintain a keen interest in Apple’s products (of which I have almost as many as I have cameras), and I read all the news feeds. I was more than surprised, then, to read that Sir Jony Ive was responsible for designing the logo for the forthcoming May Coronation.
According to Sir Jony, the design was inspired by King Charles’s love of the planet and nature and his deep concern for the natural world. The floral design, he said, highlights the optimism of spring and reflects the King’s love of nature.
It’s an imposing design featuring the flowers of the four parts of the United Kingdom — rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock. Here in Britain, we will see this emblem constantly over the next month, culminating on Coronation Day on Saturday, May 6.
Short trousers
It also reminds me that I mustn’t miss the Coronation, if only for continuity. I remember the last such event like yesterday. Last time, I was dressed in my short “flannel” trousers and braces, with knee-length socks and a pair of freshly whitened “plimsolls”, enjoying a typical street-party tea. Gaily decorated trestle tables occupied in the middle of the street as far as the eye could see.
Earlier, I’d been invited into a friend’s house where they had one of those new-fangled television sets. I think there were only two in the street then, so it was a bit crowded in the sitting room. The receiver in question was a 9in PYE in brittle brown bakelite with a sort of stepped cascade under the screen to house the speaker. Sadly, while I can remember it distinctly, I can’t find a picture on the internet to show you. The tiny screen was fitted with a useful accessory, a plastic goldfish bowl magnifier that lets us get a better view of proceedings in Westminster Abbey. Watching the 2023 event, 70 years later, will be a much more comfortable (and colourful) affair.
Charles III: Bare heads and no coronets
This allows me to segue onto the subject of the new Charles III postage stamps. Unlike Sir Jony’s William Morris-style confection, the new stamps take minimalism to its ultimate. I rather like them. As with all British stamps from the first Victorian penny black in 1840, the country is not shown. This has remained a unique feature for 183 years.
The new monarch has lost his crown, and all we see is a head and a value. The 1st in the example below doesn’t refer to his lofty position but simply to the quickest form of snail mail. All pretty boring stuff. However, Elizabeth II was the outlier in crown-toting terms. None of her four immediate male predecessors had worn a crown on their postage stamp portraits, although sometimes crowns were used in decoration.
Elizabeth II’s 1953 stamps were much busier (see picture on the left), with HM wearing a crown and surrounded by the famous national flowers, Jony Ive fashion. They also bore the legend “Postage Revenue”, which fell off the board sometime in the past seven decades.
What Charles III does have is a scan code attached to his stamps. Pretty ugly, isn’t it? I suppose this is how things are going, and I imagine the use of adhesive postage stamps will be history by the time we get to William V’s Coronation. His next majesty will be nothing more than a QR code: sans head, sans coronet, sans everything.
And what does it cost to buy one of Charles III’s new first-class stamps? Astonishingly, it is £1.10 from this month. It’s salutary to note that sending a letter in 1840 required one penny, while 113 years later, on Coronation Day in June 1953, the cost had risen to only 2½ pence. That’s what I call manageable inflation. But is it unsurprising that people no longer send letters at £1.10 a pop when email is free? Perhaps it doesn’t matter after all whether or not His Majesty wears a crown.
Via BBC website
What do our American readers think of Kings and Coronets? Are you ready to accept your currently resident prince as King Henry IX — even though he might need another five wives to qualify?
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An American on the Coronation — brings me back to an old friend, who passed away this last December. He was a British expat, born in 1939 of a coalminer father and a mother ‘in service’. What he remembers are three events: the Hillary-Norgay summiting of Everest, the coronation of Elizabeth II, and Bannister’s running of the mile. It must have seemed like a man could do anything. And a butcher’s apprentice won a scholarship to Oxford, where he attained a PhD in Mathematics. And years later, in America, he hired me. That last likely wasn’t the high point of his life, though we’d often go to his favorite brewpub of a Friday afternoon. He’d have his pint and any lamb dish, and tell me stories of boyhood and empire.
And I do agree about the stamp. Reminds me in a way of some Wedgewood designs.
Yes, Kathy, those three events are part of the lives of anyone of that generation.
Thanks for mentioning Wedgwood. The colours of the major stamps (some odd pastel shades) so have a certain atmosphere about them. If they’d put the King’s head in white, he would have looked just like a Wedgwood dish.
It took me two days to ‘get’ that last line. Now I understand what they say about British humour.
Wow! Having been living and working overseas for a good few years and not getting home very often, I am quite shocked by the price of that stamp!Almost as shocking as how few crisps there were in a packet last time I was in the U.K. I might have to stay in exile.
You’ve picked two big rackets there… ten crisps in an air-filled packet and 22 shillings for a first-class stamp. I could add to that Mars Bars and KitKats shrinking in size every time the price goes up. If we saw some of these chocolate bars side-by-side with their ancestors from 30 years ago, we’d be in shock. Of course, the excuse is to cut down portions to make us all healthier (but poorer).
Meanwhile, the Post Office looks at the dwindling number of letters and attempts to cover costs by increasing the stamp cost, thus ensuring even fewer letters. Next they will say that so few people are using the service that they will withdraw all services. Maybe things are different in Japan?
You are spot on with the chocolate bars..I remember back in the day I couldn’t eat a whole Mars bar and dad used to slice one up into several bite sized pieces!
Japan has been slow to change but the world is creeping in now. Inflation finally arrived last year and we have seen a huge jump in prices for the first time since 1991! Crisps here are so much better, very high quality, bigger and there are still plenty in a bag (which is why it came as such a shock last time I came home). Calbee is one of the leading brands.
We also have some interesting flavors including Wasabi and beef ( Wasabeefu ) which are
really tasty. Stamps are much more affordable, however young people here also don’t write as much now but you can blame phones and texting for that. The Japanese fortunately have a love of, and respect for paper, ink and also calligraphy ( brush writing )
They are ingrained in the culture, so these things are not likely going to disappear soon and will continue to co-exist along with the technology.
Remember the last one like it was yesterday too. Was also in short trousers, part of my Boy Scouts uniform. A group of us were co-opted to sell souvenir brochures along the procession route, I was stationed on Piccadilly opposite Green Park. The highlight was seeing the lovely Queen Salote from Tonga who had the most beautiful smile. It rained. The servicemen that lined the route weren’t allowed to wear their capes, so we did. Did I sell many brochures? No, money received was slid into a slot in the collection box, giving change was impossible.
Glad I’m not the only one. And you were in London, on the spot. For us, up in Lancashire, it was all remote but exciting nevertheless.
I like Jonny Ive’s work here. I think it fits with his refined and reductive approach to design. I even like the stamp, but not the bar code. Could they not have embedded a disguised QR code in the design? It’s easily doable.
As to King ‘arry. I’m not sure the commercialism has helped maintain his status.
As to the wedding and Royal family I’m sure there will be much warmth and enthusiasm for the romance of it all, but I suspect Americans would want to know who was paying the bills.
I suppose, as a pageant that gets worldwide exposure, it pays for itself in terms of publicity. No doubt we would get fewer tourists if it weren’t for the royals. But, of course, others might disagree.
And all this time I though Mac was McDonald’s and filos some strange name for food like Spotted Dick! Ha
Maybe you are thinking of Filos pastry…
I didn’t know Jony Ive drew flowers. I quite like them. Well, I’m looking forward to seeing your pictures of the street parties a la Martin Parr.