a message from his majesty

As the story goes (info here): It was 1939, and the setting is Britain. War with Germany is more than foreseeable. The British government commissioned propaganda posters to be displayed throughout the country. The idea was for the posters to be reassuring messages from King George VI to his people.

This particular poster, in all of its simplistic elements was never officially issued and remained, for the most part, unseen until an auction more than 50 years ago. An original red poster with white lettering was discovered with a stack of dusty books.

The author of the slogan is unknown to this day, but the message is reaching millions. According to a May 21 Chicago Tribune article, replica prints have been spotted in an art show in New York, in Buckingham Palace and on a shirt donned by David Beckham.

“'At the end of the day, whatever may happen, all you can do is keep calm and carry on. You can’t panic,' said Mark Coop, 34, of Surrey, England, who runs the Web site keepcalmandcarryon.com. 'It appeals to everyone from young mums with screaming babies to people in the big financial institutions who are going up the walls.'”

And oh so true--I ordered a sunshine yellow poster to keep me smiling through the end of school and it will move with me now to Marietta. The little guy clipped to my food rack in the photo above was a bonus postcard in my package.