Banknote Database made by collectors, for collectors
King Charles III
January 8, 2023 @ 22:27
WIth the passing of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, the Bank of England kept a promise to release new imagery of her heir on their banknotes as soon as possible. Known to be released before the end of the year, previews were shown to the public 20th December 2022. The new banknotes are expected to be released from 2024. King Charles III will only be the second monarch on Bank of England banknotes, after his mother who has graced the obverse designs since 1960. The Queen’s grandfather had been on British treasury notes until 1928. When the Bank took over issuance of banknotes they were not allowed to place a monarch on the notes, with the reason given that they were not an official state agency. The policy was reversed only after Canada had done whatever they wanted and put her on their notes.
The bank has kept details of Charles’ portrait secret, but it’s a widely known fact that he has been engraved for some time. The portrait sitting likely came soon after his marriage to Camilla in 2005 and has been sitting in a bank vault since. He’s probably wearing the robes of the Great Master Honorable Order but is otherwise unadorned. This is in sharp contrast to the Queen’s portrait with featured several vestiges of state jewelry such as Queen Alexandra’s cluster earrings and Queen Mary’s Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara. Charles would probably look ridiculous in a tiara so it’s a nice touch that it’s been removed. He is generally facing the audience in the same relative pose as his mother, but without any hint of emotion. Banknote design began using portraits facing the viewer directly after a psychological study implied it created trust with the banknote user. Portraits of the Queen generally evolved from her looking askance to looking the viewer in the eyes.
On the notes themselves very little has changed. The royal cipher has been moved from the lower left of the portraiture area to the center right. The Queen’s portrait from the top of the hair to the lowest point of the chin took up about 58% of the note’s height - King Charles’ portrait is almost exactly identical at 59% of the total height. Charles’s portrait from left-to-right measures about 25% of the note’s total width, compared to the Queen’s 28%. It’s clear the designers sought to create a nearly identical portrait size on the observe, without the added regalia on the Queen. The postage stamp inspired portrait frame has been kept largely the same, with the exception of Charles’ shoulder reaching all the way to the right of the frame. There is a somewhat awkward blank frame space to the left of Charles’ portrait which makes the portrait seem smaller.
The clear security window on the polymer mirrors the portrait imagery on the right of the note. While each may seem to be taken from different sources, in reality the clear security windows are both based on the same source documents used to engrave the larger portraits. With the Queen’s polymer window a mirror of the original Don Ford photograph used in 1985. The Queen’s portrait source was used until it was 37 years old, currently Charles’ portrait is about 17 years old.
Current £5 note
Preview of the new King Charles III note.