Royal Mint King Charles coin: when will new 50p enter circulation, are coins with Queen still legal tender?

Coins featuring the King’s image will co-circulate with the Queen’s currency

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The Royal Mint has begun production of the first coins of King Charles III for circulation.

The move begins the transition from Queen Elizabeth II to her son’s portrait on the nation’s coinage in what is the biggest change to UK coinage since decimalisation.

The Royal Mint has begun production of the first coins of King Charles III for circulation (Photo: PA)The Royal Mint has begun production of the first coins of King Charles III for circulation (Photo: PA)
The Royal Mint has begun production of the first coins of King Charles III for circulation (Photo: PA)

When will the new 50p featuring King Charles enter circulation?

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A memorial 50p in honour of the late Queen is set to appear in the public’s change through banks and post offices from December, featuring the portrait of King Charles. Workers at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, south Wales, will produce 9.6 million copies of the coin to mark Queen Elizabeth’s death at the age of 96.

In tribute to the Queen, the reverse of the 50p features the design that originally appeared on coins to commemorate her coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1953. It includes the four quarters of the Royal Arms depicted within a shield, with emblems of the home nations – a rose, a thistle, a shamrock and a leek.

The coins will be made on demand in line with the wishes of the King and the late Queen, who asked for minimal waste during the process.

Rebecca Morgan, director of collector services at the Royal Mint, confirmed that “nothing is removed or changed just for change’s sake”. She said: “It wasn’t unusual to see two or three different monarchs on coins before decimalisation. As a result of decimalisation, most people under the age of 50 only ever have seen Queen Elizabeth II in their pockets.”

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The 50p coin was chosen as it is one of the most popular for people to start collecting. Ms Morgan added: “I think it is really poignant that the King’s first coins are in tribute to his late mother. The only difference on the reverse of the coin is the date on either side of the leek, which is 2022 rather than 1953.”

The reverse of the 50p features the design that originally appeared on coins to commemorate her coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1953 (Photo: PA)The reverse of the 50p features the design that originally appeared on coins to commemorate her coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1953 (Photo: PA)
The reverse of the 50p features the design that originally appeared on coins to commemorate her coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1953 (Photo: PA)

It takes between 18 months to two years to design a coin, with the monarch personally signing off each one. Before her death, the Queen signed off several – including a Harry Potter commemorative series – and production of these will continue.

This will mean that two of the Harry Potter series will feature the Queen, with the final two bearing the portrait of the King. Production of coins with the Queen’s portrait will conclude by the end of the year.

Acclaimed British artist Martin Jennings, who usually works in bronze and stone, designed the official portrait of Charles to be struck onto coins. In the portrait, Charles faces to the left, the opposite direction to his mother, because tradition states monarchs face the opposite way to their predecessors on coinage. Tradition also dictates that Kings do not wear crowns in their portraits on coins, unlike Queens.

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Mr Jennings worked with images of Charles taken to mark his 70th birthday and began by drawing his design on paper, before creating a model in plaster. The completed plaster cast was then handed to experts at the Royal Mint, where it was digitally reduced to fit the size of each coin denomination.

He said: “It has been a big design challenge. The placing of everything is exactly precise, such as the spacing between the letters, the proximity with the head. It is a huge honour. It is extraordinary to think that the smallest piece of work that I have ever done is one that is going to be reproduced in the most multiples.”

Mr Jennings, who officially started production of the 50p coins at the Royal Mint, described seeing them in person as “astonishing”, added: “So many are so quickly produced and they are all so perfect, it is remarkable”.

To make the 9.6 million coins, four presses will be running for 16 hours a day at the Royal Mint’s site. Each press can strike 400 coins per minute, making around 20,000 coins an hour. The coins are checked and counted before being packed into cartons of 100,000, which are then sent to banks and sorting offices across the country.

Are coins featuring the Queen still legal tender?

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There are approximately 27 billion coins bearing the portrait of the late Queen currently in circulation in the UK and these will remain legal tender, gradually being replaced over time as they become damaged or worn and to meet demand.

Historically, it has been common for coins featuring different monarchs to be used at the same time and this will now happen with coins of the late Queen and Charles.

Kevin Clancy, director of the Royal Mint Museum, said: “For many people this will be the first time in their lives that they have seen a new monarch appear on money.

“It represents the biggest change to UK coinage since decimalisation and will usher in a new era where the coins of Charles co-circulate in the UK. The new memorial 50 pence marks a moment in history and honours a landmark reign that lasted for 70 years.”

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