King Charles gives post box to Antarctic research staff

A shiny new red post box has been given as a gift from King Charles III to staff at a remote Antarctic research station.

The Royal Mail lamp post box was sent to staff at the Cambridge-based British Antarctic Survey station at Rothera.

The box, featuring the King Charles III cypher, was delivered after Kirsten Shaw, a station support assistant who runs the British Antarctic Territory Post Office for staff, requested an upgrade to their handmade box.

“Being in Antarctica is incredible, but it’s full of extremes, so I think it’s a special thing to send post back home, to communicate your experiences. It’s a moment of your life that you put down on paper and give to someone else,” she said.

The Rothera research station, which opened in 1975, is the largest British Antarctic Survey (BAS) facility, and a renowned global hub for climatic research.

It is situated 1,860km (1,155 miles) south of the Falkland Islands.

Staff work and live at the station for months at a time.

Ms Shaw said: “Getting post is really special for the team at Rothera.

“If you’re doing fieldwork for many months, the feeling of receiving a letter — an actual tangible, piece of paper with handwriting from friends and family — is such a lift.

“It’s a wonderful way to connect people that goes beyond what an email or text message can do.”

The box will replace the handmade and painted one currently used at the station.

The BAS said “the Royal Household worked with Royal Mail to arrange this particularly special delivery”.

It was delivered to Rothera by the UK’s polar research vessel RRS Sir David Attenborough, along with the first major drop of supplies to the station following the long Antarctic winter.

The post box will be installed in the Discovery Building, a new scientific support and operations hub.

Postal logistics in such a remote area are understandably not straightforward.

Ms Shaw’s job is to oversee the formal Post Office logistics of getting mail in and out of Antarctica from Rothera, as well as getting post out to staff to other BAS stations and science field camps.

Post has to be gathered and put on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough or on BAS aircraft to the Falkland Islands, where BAS maintains an office in Stanley.

The final leg involves transport to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where letters enter the Royal Mail postal network for onward delivery.

Jane Rumble, HM Commissioner for the British Antarctic Territory said: “Maintaining a postal service in the British Antarctic Territory is far more than a symbolic gesture.

“It reinforces Britain’s presence and heritage in Antarctica and provides a vital link to the wider world.”