British passports will begin being issued in the name of King Charles III this week, the government has announced, marking the first time the documents have used the title “His Majesty” in more than 70 years.
Existing passports remain valid and the old style will be phased out until all remaining stock featuring “Her Majesty” is exhausted. This follows the approach of Royal Mail, whose stamps bearing the image of the late Queen will be used up over time – at the request of the king, who wanted to ensure there was no wastage.
“For 70 years, Her Majesty has appeared on British passports and many of us will not remember a time when she did not feature,” said the home secretary, Suella Braverman. “Today marks a significant moment in UK history, as the first British passports since 1952 start featuring the title of His Majesty, the king.”
The king himself neither owns a passport, nor requires one when he travels overseas. While he did as the Prince of Wales, he no longer needs one as sovereign because they are issued in his name.
The first page of the new document contains a representation of the royal arms and will now read: “His Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State requests and requires in the name of His Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.”
The Home Office said, in the first six months of 2023, more than 99% of the 5m passports processed were sent out within the standard UK service of 10 weeks. Last year, 95.4% made that target and a damning report by the public accounts committee found hundreds of thousands of applicants were let down by “unacceptable delays”.
It said people were unable to travel for family emergencies, lost money spent on holidays or had difficulty proving their identity, and that the “confusion and frustration of customers” was exacerbated by weaknesses in how the Passport Office tracked processing times and the performance of its contractors.
