Each of the 29 billion coins currently in circulation in the U.K. have a picture of Queen Elizabeth II on them.
Money featuring the queen isn’t going to be phased out anytime soon, according to Dominic Chorney from coin specialists A.H. Baldwin & Sons.
Chorney doesn’t think there’s going to be a concerted effort to remove her coins.
He thinks there will be coins of Queen Elizabeth in circulation for a long time.
Thirty years is a long time for pound coins to circulate.
Prior to 1971 when the pound sterling shifted from denominations of pounds, shillings and pence to just pounds and pence, there were pictures of previous monarchs on money.
There would be coins in circulation of Queen Elizabeth II and George VI.
There is no reason to take the coins out as they are legal tender.
The coins of King Charles III will be in circulation with the coins of Queen Elizabeth II, which is a first in modern history.
The tradition of using images of the monarch on coins has been going on for thousands of years. According to Chorney, it symbolizes power and a currency.
The emperor, the ruler, and the king are the most obvious symbols of the state.
At the end of the Protectorate in 1659, the U.K. head of state was Oliver Cromwell, not a king or queen.
When Charles II took the throne in 1661, he chose to have his portrait be facing the left, rather than the right, as his father had done.
Five different portraits of Queen Elizabeth II have featured on British coinage since she ascended to the throne in 1952.
The tradition of the new monarch turning his back on Cromwell’s republican version of Britain continued every time a new monarch took the throne according to rumors.
Edward VIII was close to breaking from tradition. His coins were supposed to look the same as his father’s, but as he abdicated less than a year after becoming king, they were never issued. George VI decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and so the tradition was restored.
Since 1952, five different portraits of Queen Elizabeth II have appeared on British coinage. Jody Clark’s design was the first to be created from photographs rather than sitting with the queen.
The Royal Mint, the official producer of the U.K.’s coins, refused to comment on the new money set to be minted with King Charles III’s portrait.
Each new UK coin received her personal seal of approval, as well as detailing her journey from new Queen to respected head of state, thanks to the Royal Mint. The legacy of Britain’s longest serving monarch will last for a long time.
The Bank of England said that bank notes with the image of the queen would continue to be legal tender and that further announcements about the currency would be made once the period of mourning had ended.