Soon after the postcard was invented, the medium enabled people to discover cities and villages and, of course, many different personalities, including royal families.
Royal families have always stoked people’s curiosity and they certainly did at a time (end of the 19th century) when the media had not yet become what they are today. In fact, many people didn’t know what sovereigns looked like.
Thanks to photography, then postcards, these personalities came into their homes. Delcampe carries many postcards of kings and queens of Europe as well as of Asia and Africa.
The Belgium example
As time went by, royal postcards became increasingly diverse. The first caricature postcards appeared in the early 20th century. They included Leopold II who was criticised for his fickleness, among other things.
His successor, Albert I, nicknamed the Knight King in Belgium because he personally took part in World War I, is often shown in uniform. As his wife worked alongside soldiers, she is also glorified on postcards.
Later, the postcard increasingly humanised the members of the royal family. There are endless postcards of the princes and royal events, like the marriage of King Leopold III and Queen Astrid.
However, Belgium isn’t an isolated case. Many royal families have been immortalised in postcards. The tradition is still with us today, providing many opportunities for the collectors of royal postcards.
Discover thousands of royal postcards on Delcampe.
Hello Heloise.
Not a postcard but i have a Christmas card of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh dated 1991, would it be worth anything?.