Today we're going to discuss the history of the postal service in Britain. Initially, in the 16th century, the royal post was only for the king's messages. By 1635, King Charles I made the service available to the public, but it was expensive and slow. The big change came in 1840 with the Penny Post, which introduced a uniform low rate and the postage stamp. This made sending letters affordable for ordinary people. Interestingly, the first stamp, the Penny Black, featured a portrait of Queen Victoria and was used for just one year before being replaced by the Penny Red.