King Charles III debuts on UK coins

The British Royal Mint has unveiled the image of King Charles III to be used in the country’s coins.

The first coins to be emblazoned with the regal portrait are to be commemorative five-pound crowns and the reverse of a 50-pence coin commemorating the life of Queen Elizabeth II.

King Charles has been next in line to the throne for seven decades – by some years the longest wait in the history of the British monarchy. Neither he nor his courtiers ever spoke publicly about the prospect of the Queen’s death, as it was always considered a matter of great private sadness.

“He never wanted to think about accession because it meant the death of his mother,” a former aide said on Thursday.

The image of the king was created by British sculptor Martin Jennings from a photograph. It has been personally approved by the new king. In keeping with tradition, King Charles faces in the opposite direction from his mother.

The obverse of the five-pound coin bears two new portraits of Queen Elizabeth while the reverse of the 50-pence coin features the design that first appeared on the 1953 Coronation Crown.

Chris Barker, information and research manager at the Royal Mint, said Jennings had put “real warmth and humanity” in the portrait of the new king.

Baker said…

“It’s a little bit different to what you might have got with Queen Elizabeth II, particularly her first coinage portrait from the 1950s where it was very idealised, this is much more humane in regards to Charles, it’s much more the man himself and you are also seeing the age of Charles coming across in a dignified and graceful way”

All of Britain’s approximately 27 billion coins in circulation in the UK bearing the image of Queen Elizabeth will remain legal and will be replaced by King Charles coins over time.

Source The Nation