The Royal Philatelic Collection is not on general public display, since much of the Collection is fragile. However, examples are occasionally on public display by kind permission of The Queen.

Each season, the opening display at the Royal Philatelic Society London (of which The Queen is Patron) consists of material from the Collection. This custom was started shortly after the First World War by George V, but the meeting is only open to Fellows and Members of the Society.

Selections from the Collection are also displayed at other exhibitions in the United Kingdom and at major international stamp shows.

In 2010, the collection collaborated with The British Postal Museum and Archive on an exhibition entitled 'Empire Mail: George V and the GPO' which was on display at Guildhall Art Gallery as part of 'London 2010: Festival of Stamps'.

George V became known as the ‘Philatelist King’ and the exhibition celebrated the centenary of his Accession to the throne and the extraordinary period of design and innovation in the General Post Office during his reign.

Recent years have seen displays of material from the Collection at exhibitions in the UK in London, Newcastle, Glasgow, Chester, Torquay, Croydon and Harrogate. In 2002 a travelling exhibition went to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Sandringham House and Hampton Court Palace as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Overseas, a major exhibition was mounted at the Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum in Washington, DC in 2004 and another at Te Papa, in Wellington, New Zealand in 2005. In the last five years, displays of material from the Collection have also been shown at short-term exhibitions including in Washington (USA), Calgary (Canada), Malaga (Spain), the Czech Republic, Germany, Monaco, Romania and the Czech Republic again.

In 2009 a major exhibition was mounted in Ottawa (Canada) at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. In the same year, material was on show at short-term exhibitions in Luoyang (China) and Monaco.