Well I'm glad we've got that sorted. I was concerned the passports wouldn't get redesigned, I can sleep soundly now.
this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2025
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As ever, having a monarchy is absurd.
Fuck off and make them red again.
Natural landscapes from all four UK nations will also feature inside the updated documents, including Ben Nevis, the Lake District, Three Cliffs Bay and the Giant's Causeway.
Honestly, good. The current passport is actually hideous. Each page is just a random boring soulless geometric pattern. It is a significant downgrade from the previous passport design which had a charming chaotic assortment of statues, buildings, the london tube map, British inventions, etc. It was a lovely patriotic tribute to the UK. Then when it went blue it just turned into bland shapes (although the floral emblem on the back cover is nice)
Meanwhile the Irish passport not only has images on each visa page and little musical notes from their anthem, but even the ribbon holding it all together is green, white and orange like their national flag (The only reference to it I think, makes sense considering that the passport is given to people from Northern Ireland as well)
The Chinese passport is also cool, each page is themed off of a different Chinese province, I think there's one for the two Special Administrative Regions as well.
Another advantage of the Irish passport over the British passport is that the Irish passport allows you to live and work in 26 other European countries. But hey ho.
Yeah they should add that feature to the British passport.
lol true. I am a Protestant in Northern Ireland, but even then I had to resort to getting an Irish passport to visit my girlfriend in China, as the Irish Passport has 30 day visa-free entry, and was cheaper to get one than a visa on my British one.
However, just say I wanted to cross into Vietnam, I'd need to present my British passport as it's the other way around.
From what I hear, the British passport is better for long-term stays in some places. You get 180 days in Hong Kong SAR vs the Irish passport's 90 days. And if you're migrating to or having a long-term stay in Australia, it's more straightforward with a British passport.
Some reckon that the consular assistance is better with a British passport (People in Northern Ireland typically used this to justify a British passport which was slightly more expensive), but I don't know if that's the case post brexit. I remember the crisis in Sudan a number of years ago, the Brits were still stuck there while the Irish had already been evacuated by the Germans on account of the EU. I believe every EU diplomatic mission is actually supposed to support EU citizens regardless of nationality, although possibly in cases where their home country's mission is inaccessible. Still would be nice, for example, a German citizen staying in Belfast could seek help from the Polish consulate if needs be.
I remember the crisis in Sudan a number of years ago, the Brits were still stuck there while the Irish had already been evacuated by the Germans on account of the EU. I believe every EU diplomatic mission is actually supposed to support EU citizens regardless of nationality, although possibly in cases where their home country’s mission is inaccessible.
That's cool. I guess Brits will have to go without such benefits for the time being. And if Reform are the next government then the UK's ties to Europe will probably be reduced. I suppose there is time for the public to change their voting intentions before the next election though.
Please please please no reform UK...
Britain is pants at consular assistance. Always the last european nation to organise evacuation flights, if at all, in hurricane season. At least in the before times you could go on EU flights.
Yeah. I'm probably best with my Irish passport honestly. Not that the Irish will help me, but the Germans or the French might.
Pointless pageantry, but whatever floats his royal boat.
In all fairness, I don't think he really cares considering he cant have a passport in the first place.
Yeah, it's more about updating to the current emblems, which would happen anyway. Sounds like they are updating the passports and doing this at the same time. If the King was that bothered he would have made them change it when they altered the text from "her majesty" to "his majesty".
I honestly don't know how that works. Does he even require one?
Passports are basically letters from heads of state requesting safe access for their citizen who holds that letter. The oldest record of such being recorded in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah 2:7-10
And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me. Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.
The front cover of your British passport should include the following:
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.
I believe other countries have a similar note.
Over time, they got more and more standardised into identity documents, but that front cover is basically the core part.
So, the King doesn't need a letter from himself asking for safe passage.
Kinda the same with driving licences. The King probably had one as Prince of Wales, but Queen Elizabeth II I don't believe ever had one. She didn't need one as they are essentially permission from the King/Queen to operate the car.
Interesting. Thank you.
The King probably had one as Prince of Wales, but Queen Elizabeth II I don't believe ever had one.
The Prince of Wales' car collided with a deer while he was driving at the Queen's Balmoral Castle estate in Scotland over the weekend.
Prince Charles walked away uninjured from behind the wheel, but his car, an Audi, was damaged. Clarence House declined to comment on the crash.
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to take your permission note I gave you to drive away. We can't have you smashing into my deer."
I remember Prince Philip had one, he actually was pressured into giving it up after getting into a car accident.
Now I know how The Onion feels around Trump news stories.
“Hello, old chap. I wonder, have you met my Navy?”
Since all British passports are issued in the name of the Sovereign and he has the Crown he just sort of waves a hand and other countries pretend that's alright since he can't really holiday to the south of France.
He just waves a freshly minted 50 as he walks through passport control.
"You see this 50 quid note? That's my face on it. Questions? No? Good."
Read the article. They're just updating the passport as a whole. So it makes sense they'll change the crown on the cover to reflect the King's arms.