King Charles Says the New Banknotes With His Portrait Are “Very Elegant”

Soon after King Charles III first ascended to the throne in September 2022, the Bank of England announced that bills featuring the monarch’s portrait would not arrive until 2024. Eighteen months later, Charles has now had the chance to see the new British pound featuring his own likeness. During a Tuesday engagement at Buckingham Palace, he received the new 5, 10, 20, and 50 pound notes, which feature an engraving based on a 2013 portrait.

According to the BBC, the king said the new notes were “very elegant.” Charles also learned that this was the first time the Bank of England has ever had to put a new monarch on the banknotes, because the UK only introduced the queen’s image on paper money in 1960. “This is what is so surprising,” the king said, per the broadcaster. “You would think that it goes back.” 

Following tradition, the Bank of England’s governor Andrew Bailey presented the king with the first printed notes, serial number 00001, during the event on Tuesday, where they were joined by Sarah John, the bank’s chief cashier and director of banking. This summer, other low serial number notes will be auctioned through Spink & Son, a London-based collectibles house, with the proceeds going to charity.

In February, the bank announced that bills featuring the king’s portrait, accompanied on the reverse by unchanged images of Winston Churchill, Jane Austen, JMW Turner, and Alan Turing, would enter circulation on June 5. “The new banknotes will only be printed to replace those that are worn, and to meet any overall increase in demand for banknotes,” their statement read. “Our approach is in line with guidance from the Royal Household, to minimize the environmental and financial impact of this change. This means the public will begin to see the new King Charles III notes very gradually.”

The king’s likeness was first cast onto 50 pence coins during an October 2022 run at the Royal Mint, but many of the other changes reflecting Charles’s reign, including the issue of stamps with his likeness and passports with his name, took place in 2023.  Last year, John told the BBC that the process of introducing new bills was slow because it included additional technological challenges. 

“There is a lot to do to ensure that machines used up and down the country can accept the banknotes,” she said. “They all need to be adapted to recognise the new design, with software updates, and that takes months and months. Otherwise, we will be putting a banknote out there that people simply would not be able to use.”

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