The face of Queen Elizabeth II is one of the most recognized in the world. Her portrait has been featured on currencies in many places around the world. However, notes and coins bearing the queen’s portrait are expected to be replaced by the image of new King Charles III, Bloomberg reported. However, it will not be instant.
Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. The UK is on 10-day nationwide mourning. Her eldest son Prince Charles, who chose the name Charles III, was officially proclaimed the UK’s new monarch.
"Current banknotes featuring the image of Her Majesty The Queen will continue to be legal tender," the Bank of England said. "As we respect this period of respectful mourning, we continue to strike coins as usual," the Royal Mint said on its website.
Now, there are 4.7 billion UK banknotes worth £82 billion ($95 billion) and about 29 billion coins in circulation. Banknotes bearing the queen’s image will likely be in circulation for years. An official portrait of King Charles III should be commissioned before making new banknotes. After that, they will gradually replace notes and coins featuring the queen.
The currencies of other countries with the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, including Australian and Canadian dollars, will also be updated over time. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand stressed it would issue all of its stock of coins depicting the queen before new coins with Charles’ image go out.
On the coins of many countries, such as Jamaica, there is no portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. After Jamaica gained independence from Britain in 1962, the local authorities replaced the portrait of the Queen on banknotes with images of national heroes. Notes in the Seychelles and Bermuda feature local wildlife instead of the queen. Small states like Trinidad and Tobago use the image of the coat of arms. Since 1997, Chinese dragons and skyscrapers have been featured on Hong Kong dollars.
