Queen Elizabeth II 25th Anniversary Coronation First Day Cover, St. Vincent (Grenadines) postmarked on June 2, 1978.
St. Vincent (Grenadines)
The Grenadines of St. Vincent, more than 100 islands stretching south towards Grenada, are popular for snorkelling, scuba diving and yachting. During the whaling season whalers set off from the larger islands and section their catch off- shore. Another important local industry is boat building.
These stamps, designed by Gordon Drummond and printed by John Waddington of Kirkstall Ltd., are one of the 'Defender of the Faith' issues, and depict the following:
5c — Worcester Cathedral. Site of the lowest ford in the Severn until 1313, this Norman and Early English style cathedral was begun in 1084 by Bishop Wulfstan. The nave and tower date from 1317 and 1374 respectively.
40c — Coventry Cathedral. Coventry was chosen in 1043 for a Benedictine monastery by Leofric, Earl of Mercia, whose wife Godiva achieved fame by riding disrobed through the town on a white horse. The contemporary cathedral designed by Sir Basil Spence replaced an older one destroyed by bombing in World War Two.
$1.00 — Winchester Cathedral. Built by Bishop Walkelin (1070-98) to replace an earlier Saxon cathedral, Winchester is the largest in England and contains the mortuary chests of Saxon kings and the tombs of Isaak Walton and Jane Austen.
$3.00 — Chester Cathedral. Chester, the Roman Castra Devana and Anglo Saxon Legaceaster, was created an earldom by William I, and annexed for his son by Henry III in 1241. The 1st Norman Earl founded the Benedictine Abbey (Early English and Decorated Style) and Henry VIII turned it into a bishopric.
Defender of the Faith
The Church of England dates its independent existence from 1533, when the first 'Defender of the Faith', Henry VIII, decided Queen Catherine could not give him a son, and divorced her. Rome excommunicated him, and he proceeded to break up the monasteries, providing abundant funds to create sympathetic courtier-bishops, and to maintain his despotism. In 1534 he decreed that people should believe that Christ was present in sacramental bread and wine; that priests couldn't marry; that chastity vows must be upheld and that mass and auricular confession were indispensible. Anyone who thought different was not tolerated, and the burning of Lollards, Lutherans, Anabaptists and Catholics began.
