With the royal mourning period following the death of Queen Elizabeth II over, the United Kingdom is transitioning into the reign of King Charles III. Amid that transition is the distribution of currency featuring His Majesty The King.
The Royal Mint has released a memorial coin collection to honour Her Late Majesty. These coins are the first to feature The King’s official coinage portrait designed by acclaimed sculptor Martin Jennings. Jennings’ works include sculptures of George Orwell outside BBC’s Broadcasting House and John Betjeman at St Pancras Station.
Jennings’ portrait is the first definitive coinage portrait of His Majesty and was personally approved by The King. To prepare for the design of the coinage portrait, Jennings studied as many photographs of The King as he could.
“You collect as many photographic images of your subject as you can. To present just one side of somebody’s head, you have to understand how the head works in the round, so you examine all of these old photographs then settle on just one or two that give you the optimal impression of the side of the head that you are modelling.
“The piece is modelled in plaster larger than the size of the coin, so about the size of a dinner plate. I work by hand using tiny, tiny millimetres of material to model it. And eventually, once it is complete and cast in plaster, my original design can be digitally reduced so that the impression is the right size for a coin.”
Jennings originally trained as a calligrapher and has experience carving inscriptions into stone. To complement and convey the gravitas of The King’s portrait, he said the font of the lettering within the design was of the utmost importance.
In a tradition dating back to the reign of King Charles II, each monarch faces an alternate direction to their predecessor. In this case, Her Late Majesty’s portrait had her face to the right; thus, The King’s portrait will face to the left.
The Bank of England said notes featuring Her Late Majesty will still be considered legal money that can be exchanged. Notes will only be removed from circulation if they are damaged or worn out. Notes with His Majesty will not enter circulation until mid-2024.
