In the United Kingdom, the first series of pounds and pennies bearing the name of King Charles will be put into circulation at the end of this year. The new design reflects Charles’ interest in nature. The coins depict squirrels, bees and other animals.
After Charles’ coronation, commemorative coins were already in circulation and his face also appeared on coins already in use. But now the king gets his new series of pennies and pounds.
The penny depicts a hazel dormouse, whose population has halved in the United Kingdom in fifteen years. 2 pennies depict a red squirrel and 5 pennies depict an oak leaf.
The 10p note features a capercaillie (an endangered bird found in Scotland), the 20p note features a puffin, and the 50p note features an Atlantic salmon. The pound features bees and the 2 pound features the national flowers of the four nations of the United Kingdom (rose, daffodil, thistle and clover).
“Mint will appeal to kids too.”
The Royal Mint, the institution that mints coins, expects the new coins to help children learn to count and recognize the shapes of animals. The larger size of the songs is also noticeable. “It will appeal to kids too,” says director Rebecca Morgan.
On the side of the £2 coin is the inscription ‘in servitio omnium’, which means ‘in the service of all’ and comes from his inaugural address. There is also a tribute to the two previous kings, Charles, with three C’s on the coins.
Charles looks to the left at the coins, the other way his mother is looking. The fact that successive kings look to each other is also common on Dutch coins. Charles does not wear a crown like previous kings. Queen Elizabeth wore a crown on the coin.
There are 29 billion British coins in circulation, almost all of which have Elizabeth’s face on them. These will continue to dominate Britons’ wallets and earnings for the time being. Next year, Charles will also appear on millions of British banknotes.
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