This elegant book is the definitive historical account of one of the world's most important and extensive stamp collections, and of the monarchs and keepers who have -contributed to it.

Inaugurated by Queen Victoria, and enlarged by five successive British monarchs, the main body of the Collection came into being under George V, whose passionate and shrewd acquisition of many other private collections has ensured the unique and comprehensive character of his own.

Highly illustrated with full-color reproductions of some of the most famous stamps ever printed, "The Queen's Stamps" is a story told through the stamps themselves, as well as through astonishing anecdotes featuring the kings, queens and courtiers who brought them together.

This informative, surprising volume is the first and definitive history of a unique institution, written to appeal to the general reader with an interest in Royal history, as well as to those with a specialist's enthusiasm for the most collected commodity in the world. The book's publication will coincide with the inauguration of a major stamp exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum, Washington, DC.

Nicholas Courtney is the former governor of Mustique, and the author of 20 books. He lives in London.

Colin Tennant was born to an immensely rich Victorian industrial family, he used his wealth to live an eccentric lifestyle of self-indulgence from the 1940s to his death in 2010. He bought the private island of Mustique in the W Indies and made it one of the world's most exclusive destinations for the famous - royalty, film and pop stars, international businessmen and the jet-set flocked there. His parties were legend. Colin Tennant was an original member of the Princess Margaret set (even suggested as a possible husband) and her visits to the island were always newsworthy. This is the inside story of a remarkable and often tragic life which continues to cause ripples even after his death - not least because, to his family's surprise, he left his estate to his manservant. The author personally knew his subject for forty years and is his literary executor so has had access to unseen family papers and photographs.