(24 May 1996) Cant/Eng/Nat

In the words of Lewis Carroll's Queen of Hearts, the Hong Kong Post Office have ordered "Off with Her Head" by scrapping Queen Elizabeth's head from its stamps.

The Queen's image has already disappeared from new coins and banknotes in line with a policy of removing official royal insignia in the run up to the Chinese handover next year.

The new issue Hong Kong stamps will feature the territory's famous waterfront skyline.

For nearly half a century, Queen Elizabeth's head had been featured on Hong Kong's stamps.

This will be the first time since Britain took control of Hong Kong that British royalty has not been featured on the territory's stamps.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"This comprises a set of sixteen different denominations ranging from ten cents to fifty dollars, and the whole set when taken together captures the continuous stretch of the waterfront of the north of Hong Kong."
SUPER CAPTION: Robert Footman, Postmaster General Hong Kong

The new stamps will be issued in early 1997.

After the handover in June 1997, stamps bearing the Queens' head will cease to be valid.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It's good news, it means that postal services can continue uninterrupted and in a very simple way across the transition."
SUPERCAPTION: Robert Footman, Postmaster General, Hong Kong.

Buckingham Palace has been informed of the decision to drop the monarch's head.

The territory changes its stamp designs every five years and decided to match the handover with a politically neutral stamp for both the Chinese and British governments.

The loss of the Queen's head on the stamps is not only eagerly awaited by the Chinese but by stamp collectors who predict increased values.

SOUNDBITE: (Cantonese)
"Because the Queen's head is no longer there, collectors will be more interested in collecting them, there is a collection value."
SUPER CAPTION: Mr Kan Yiu Hung, Stamp dealer

Five local designers were recruited to design the new stamp and the multi-coloured Hong Kong skyline was approved.

Clearly displaying another step away from Britain's autonomy and tradition in Hong Kong.

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