This issue consists of a miniature sheet bearing one stamp portraying a lithograph of a drawing by Charles von Brocktorff, circa 1838.
It shows the entry of the dowager Queen Adelaide on board the HMS Hastings into the Valletta Grand Harbour on 30 November 1838.
Queen Adelaide married William IV in 1818. Together they helped to restore the popularity of the Royal Family at a time when Republicanism was taking over in Europe. Queen Adelaide outlived her husband, and remained the Dowager Queen until her death in 1849. She fell ill after her husband's passing away in 1837 and was advised that she needed to enjoy a good climate such as that found in the Mediterranean.
The news that the Queen Dowager Adelaide of England was to visit Malta was published in the Government Gazette (no. 1455) on 24 October 1838. This information stated that the Queen had left England on her way to the Mediterranean on 3 October in the 'Hastings'. On 14 November the Government Gazette informed that the 'Hastings' had arrived in Naples, and finally on 26 November news about the programme of the Queen's arrival was announced.
On the day, the 'Rhadamanthus' was ordered to prepare to tow the 'Hastings' into the harbour. The squadron was under the command of Admiral Sir Robert Stoppford and consisted of a total of eight ships; the Princess Charlotte 104, the Asia 84, the Vanguard 80, the Bellerophon 80, the Minden 74, theBarham 50, the Carysfort 26 and the Wolverene 16.
The entrance of the Queen into harbour was marked by a royal salute fired from Fort Ricasoli and Fort Saint Elmo, and afterwards twenty-one guns were fired from each of the man-of-war.
Battalions of soldiers assembled on the most prominent batteries in order to cheer the Queen as she passed by. People were overjoyed with the arrival of the Queen it being the first time that the flag of a crowned head had entered within Grand Harbour.
The Queen left Malta on 1 April 1939. The Anglican Cathedral of St. Paul in Valletta remains known as a monument to this visit as during her visit the Dowager Queen contributed £10,000 for the construction, furnishing and endowing of the Cathedral. The foundation stone was laid in 1839 to the final designs of William Scamp.
