 Throughout Churchill 's second term as Prime Minister ( 1951 – 55 ) Home remained at the Scottish Office , although both Eden at the Foreign Office and Lord Salisbury at the Commonwealth Relations Office invited him to join their ministerial teams . Among the Scottish matters with which he dealt were hydro @-@ electric projects , hill farming , sea transport , road transport , forestry , and the welfare of crofters in the Highlands and the Western Isles . These matters went largely unreported in the British press , but the question of the royal cypher on Post Office pillar boxes became front @-@ page news . Because Elizabeth I of England was never queen of Scotland , some nationalists maintained when Elizabeth II came to the British throne in 1952 that in Scotland she should be styled " Elizabeth I " . Churchill said in the House of Commons that considering the " greatness and splendour of Scotland " , and the contribution of the Scots to British and world history , " they ought to keep their silliest people in order " . Home nevertheless arranged that in Scotland new pillar boxes were decorated with the royal crown instead of the full cypher . 
