According to the Bank of England, the face of Britain’s future King Charles III will not appear on currency until the middle of 2024.
One of the numerous changes brought about by the new sovereign is the rebranding of the United Kingdom’s bank notes, which had depicted Queen Elizabeth II on the front for the last seven decades. The Bank of England, the United Kingdom’s central bank, stated that when the money with the king’s picture is issued, it will circulate alongside bank notes with the queen’s portrait.
The bank, which controls the notes, stated that photographs of the monarch would be released on the front of four bank notes—the £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes—by the end of the year. The design’s sole difference will be replacing the queen’s image with the king’s.
On the notes, King Charles is likely to face left, following a British tradition in which new kings face the opposite way as their predecessors. On her bank notes, Queen Elizabeth faced right.
According to the bank, bank notes previously printed with the queen’s likeness will be placed into circulation to minimise environmental and financial repercussions. Currency bearing her picture is lawful currency and will be removed from circulation only if it becomes worn or damaged.
There are around 4.7 billion bank notes and 27 billion coins in circulation, all of which must be phased out to make way for ones portraying King Charles.
The Royal Mint, which manufactures British coinage, stated that coins with the king’s image would enter circulation in response to demand from banks and post offices.
“This means the coinage of King Charles III and Queen Elizabeth II will co-circulate in the U.K. for many years to come,” said Anne Jessopp, chief executive of the Royal Mint.
The Bank of England was already replacing paper notes with more durable polymer notes when the Queen died earlier this month.
In the days following the queen’s death, the bank issued a statement assuring the British public that notes bearing her likeness would remain legal money.
According to the bank, the same face of the queen has been on bank notes since 1990. Since 1960, several photographs of Queen Elizabeth, who rose to the queen in 1952, have circulated.
According to the bank, the United Kingdom Treasury Department granted the Bank of England permission to put the Queen’s face on notes in 1956. At the time, the bank stated that incorporating fresh designs into the notes would take years.
The picture of the sovereign appears on the front of the notes, while photographs of other prominent personalities, such as Winston Churchill and Jane Austen, appear on the back. Queen Elizabeth has also appeared on Australian, Canadian, Caribbean, and New Zealand coinage.
The passing of the Queen is fueling a rebranding push unprecedented in the United Kingdom in seven decades. Her name, image, and visage have appeared on everything from money to cookies, mailboxes, and flags.