1999 Royal Mint BUnc Annual 8-Coin Set Sealed Original Wrapper
To save you money on multiple purchases, I am happy to combine shipping where applicable. Please feel free to ask.
Overseas buyers: please check before purchase or bidding if VAT or import duties apply in your country; eBay may not always include these on the invoice.
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime, and was head of state of 15 realms at the time of her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch and the longest verified reign of any female monarch in history.
Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, making the ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In November 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, and their marriage lasted 73 years until his death in 2021. They had four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.
When her father died in February 1952, Elizabeth—then 25 years old—became queen of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (known today as Sri Lanka), as well as head of the Commonwealth. Elizabeth reigned as a constitutional monarch through major political changes such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, devolution in the United Kingdom, the decolonisation of Africa, and the United Kingdom's accession to the European Communities and withdrawal from the European Union. The number of her realms varied over time as territories gained independence and some realms became republics. As queen, Elizabeth was served by more than 170 prime ministers across her realms. Her many historic visits and meetings included state visits to China in 1986, to Russia in 1994, and to the Republic of Ireland in 2011, and meetings with five popes.
Significant events included Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 and the celebrations of her Silver, Golden, Diamond, and Platinum jubilees in 1977, 2002, 2012, and 2022, respectively. Although she faced occasional republican sentiment and media criticism of her family—particularly after the breakdowns of her children's marriages, her annus horribilis in 1992, and the death in 1997 of her former daughter-in-law Diana—support for the monarchy in the United Kingdom remained consistently high throughout her lifetime, as did her personal popularity. Elizabeth died at Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, in 2022 at the age of 96, and was succeeded by her eldest son, Charles III.
Elizabeth was born on 21 April 1926, the first child of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), and his wife, Elizabeth, Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father was the second son of King George V and Queen Mary, and her mother was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. She was delivered at 02:40 (GMT) by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfather's London home, 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair. The Anglican Archbishop of York, Cosmo Gordon Lang, baptised her in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace on 29 May, and she was named Elizabeth after her mother; Alexandra after her paternal great-grandmother, who had died six months earlier; and Mary after her paternal grandmother. She was called "Lilibet" by her close family, based on what she called herself at first. She was cherished by her grandfather George V, whom she affectionately called "Grandpa England", and her regular visits during his serious illness in 1929 were credited in the popular press and by later biographers with raising his spirits and aiding his recovery.
Elizabeth's only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930. The two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature, and music. Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margaret's childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeth's love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, and her attitude of responsibility. Others echoed such observations: Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as "a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant." Her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as "a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved". Elizabeth's early life was spent primarily at the Yorks' residences at 145 Piccadilly (their town house in London) and Royal Lodge in Windsor.
During her grandfather's reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the British throne, behind her uncle Edward and her father. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, as Edward was still young and likely to marry and have children of his own, who would precede Elizabeth in the line of succession. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second in line to the throne, after her father. Later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeth's father became king, taking the regnal name George VI. Since Elizabeth had no brothers, she became heir presumptive. If her parents had subsequently had a son, he would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession, which was determined by the male-preference primogeniture in effect at the time.
Elizabeth received private tuition in constitutional history from Henry Marten, Vice-Provost of Eton College, and learned French from a succession of native-speaking governesses. A Girl Guides company, the 1st Buckingham Palace Company, was formed specifically so she could socialise with girls her age. Later, she was enrolled as a Sea Ranger.
In 1939, Elizabeth's parents toured Canada and the United States. As in 1927, when they had toured Australia and New Zealand, Elizabeth remained in Britain, since her father thought she was too young to undertake public tours. She "looked tearful" as her parents departed. They corresponded regularly, and she and her parents made the first royal transatlantic telephone call on 18 May.
In September 1939, Britain entered the Second World War. Lord Hailsham suggested that Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret should be evacuated to Canada to avoid the frequent aerial bombings of London by the Luftwaffe. This was rejected by their mother, who declared, "The children won't go without me. I won't leave without the King. And the King will never leave." The princesses stayed at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, until Christmas 1939, when they moved to Sandringham House, Norfolk. From February to May 1940, they lived at Royal Lodge, Windsor, until moving to Windsor Castle, where they lived for most of the next five years. At Windsor, the princesses staged pantomimes at Christmas in aid of the Queen's Wool Fund, which bought yarn to knit into military garments. In 1940, the 14-year-old Elizabeth made her first radio broadcast during the BBC's Children's Hour, addressing other children who had been evacuated from the cities. She stated: "We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors, soldiers, and airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our own share of the danger and sadness of war. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well."
In 1943, Elizabeth undertook her first solo public appearance on a visit to the Grenadier Guards, of which she had been appointed colonel the previous year. As she approached her 18th birthday, Parliament changed the law so that she could act as one of five counsellors of state in the event of her father's incapacity or absence abroad, such as his visit to Italy in July 1944. In February 1945, she was appointed an honorary second subaltern in the Auxiliary Territorial Service with the service number 230873. She trained and worked as a driver and mechanic and was given the rank of honorary junior commander (female equivalent of captain at the time) five months later.
At the end of the war in Europe, on Victory in Europe Day, Elizabeth and Margaret mingled incognito with the celebrating crowds in the streets of London. Elizabeth later said in a rare interview, "We asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves. I remember we were terrified of being recognised ... I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief."
During the war, plans were drawn to quell Welsh nationalism by affiliating Elizabeth more closely with Wales. Proposals, such as appointing her Constable of Caernarfon Castle or a patron of Urdd Gobaith Cymru (the Welsh League of Youth), were abandoned for several reasons, including fear of associating Elizabeth with conscientious objectors in the Urdd at a time when Britain was at war. Welsh politicians suggested she be made Princess of Wales on her 18th birthday. Home Secretary Herbert Morrison supported the idea, but the King rejected it because he felt such a title belonged solely to the wife of a Prince of Wales and the Prince of Wales had always been the heir apparent. In 1946, she was inducted into the Gorsedd of Bards at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.
Elizabeth went on her first overseas tour in 1947, accompanying her parents through southern Africa. During the tour, in a broadcast to the British Commonwealth on her 21st birthday, she made the following pledge: "I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong." The oft-quoted speech was written by Dermot Morrah, a journalist for The Times.
Elizabeth met her future husband, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, in 1934 and again in 1937. They were second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark and third cousins through Queen Victoria. After meeting for the third time at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in July 1939, Elizabeth—though only 13 years old—said she fell in love with Philip, who was 18, and they began to exchange letters. She was 21 when their engagement was officially announced on 9 July 1947.
The engagement attracted some controversy. Philip had no financial standing, was foreign-born (though a British subject who had served in the Royal Navy throughout the Second World War), and had sisters who had married German noblemen with Nazi links. Marion Crawford wrote, "Some of the King's advisors did not think him good enough for her. He was a prince without a home or kingdom. Some of the papers played long and loud tunes on the string of Philip's foreign origin." Later biographies reported that Elizabeth's mother had reservations about the union initially, and teased Philip as "the Hun". In later life, however, she told the biographer Tim Heald that Philip was "an English gentleman".
Before the marriage, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, officially converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and adopted the style Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, taking the surname of his mother's British family. Shortly before the wedding, he was created Duke of Edinburgh and granted the style His Royal Highness. Elizabeth and Philip were married on 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey. They received 2,500 wedding gifts from around the world. Elizabeth required ration coupons to buy the material for her gown (which was designed by Norman Hartnell) because Britain had not yet completely recovered from the devastation of the war. In post-war Britain, it was not acceptable for Philip's German relations, including his three surviving sisters, to be invited to the wedding. Neither was an invitation extended to the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII.
Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Charles, in November 1948. One month earlier, the King had issued letters patent allowing her children to use the style and title of a royal prince or princess, to which they otherwise would not have been entitled as their father was no longer a royal prince. A second child, Princess Anne, was born in August 1950.
Following their wedding, the couple leased Windlesham Moor, near Windsor Castle, until July 1949, when they took up residence at Clarence House in London. At various times between 1949 and 1951, the Duke of Edinburgh was stationed in the British Crown Colony of Malta as a serving Royal Navy officer. He and Elizabeth lived intermittently in Malta for several months at a time in the hamlet of Gwardamanġa, at Villa Guardamangia, the rented home of Philip's uncle, Lord Mountbatten. Their two children remained in Britain.
George VI's health declined during 1951, and Elizabeth frequently stood in for him at public events. When she visited Canada and President Harry S. Truman in Washington, D.C., in October 1951, her private secretary, Martin Charteris, carried a draft accession declaration in case the King died while she was on tour. In early 1952, Elizabeth and Philip set out for a tour of Australia and New Zealand by way of the British colony of Kenya. On 6 February, they had just returned to their Kenyan home, Sagana Lodge, after a night spent at Treetops Hotel, when word arrived of the death of Elizabeth's father. Philip broke the news to the new queen. She chose to retain Elizabeth as her regnal name, and was therefore called Elizabeth II, which offended many Scots, as she was the first Elizabeth to rule in Scotland. She was proclaimed queen throughout her realms and the royal party hastily returned to the United Kingdom. Elizabeth and Philip moved into Buckingham Palace.
With Elizabeth's accession, it seemed possible that the royal house would take her husband's name, in line with the custom for married women of the time. Lord Mountbatten advocated for House of Mountbatten and Philip suggested House of Edinburgh, after his ducal title. The British prime minister, Winston Churchill, and Elizabeth's grandmother Queen Mary favoured the retention of the House of Windsor. Elizabeth issued a declaration on 9 April 1952 that the royal house would continue to be Windsor. Philip complained, "I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children." In 1960, the surname Mountbatten-Windsor was adopted for Philip and Elizabeth's male-line descendants who do not carry royal titles.
Amid preparations for the coronation, Princess Margaret told her sister she wished to marry Peter Townsend, a divorcé 16 years Margaret's senior with two sons from his previous marriage. Elizabeth asked them to wait for a year; in the words of her private secretary, "the Queen was naturally sympathetic towards the Princess, but I think she thought—she hoped—given time, the affair would peter out." Senior politicians were against the match and the Church of England did not permit remarriage after divorce. If Margaret had contracted a civil marriage, she would have been expected to renounce her right of succession. Margaret decided to abandon her plans with Townsend. In 1960, she married Antony Armstrong-Jones, who was created Earl of Snowdon the following year. They were divorced in 1978. She did not remarry.
Despite the death of Queen Mary on 24 March 1953, the coronation went ahead as planned on 2 June, as Mary had requested. The coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey was televised for the first time, with the exception of the anointing and communion. On Elizabeth's instruction, her coronation gown was embroidered with the floral emblems of Commonwealth countries.
From Elizabeth's birth onwards, the British Empire continued its transformation into the Commonwealth of Nations. By the time of her accession in 1952, her role as head of multiple independent states was already established. In 1953, Elizabeth and her husband embarked on a seven-month round-the-world tour, visiting 13 countries and covering more than 40,000 miles (64,000 km) by land, sea and air. She became the first reigning monarch of Australia and New Zealand to visit those nations. During the tour, crowds were immense; three-quarters of the population of Australia were estimated to have seen her. Throughout her reign, Elizabeth made hundreds of state visits to other countries and tours of the Commonwealth; she was the most widely travelled head of state.
In 1956, the British and French prime ministers, Sir Anthony Eden and Guy Mollet, discussed the possibility of France joining the Commonwealth. The proposal was never accepted and the following year France signed the Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community, the precursor to the European Union. In November 1956, Britain and France invaded Egypt in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to capture the Suez Canal. Lord Mountbatten said Elizabeth was opposed to the invasion, though Eden denied it. Eden resigned two months later.
The governing Conservative Party had no formal mechanism for choosing a leader, meaning that it fell to Elizabeth to decide whom to commission to form a government following Eden's resignation. Eden recommended she consult Lord Salisbury, the lord president of the council. Lord Salisbury and Lord Kilmuir, the lord chancellor, consulted the British Cabinet, Churchill, and the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, resulting in Elizabeth appointing their recommended candidate: Harold Macmillan.
The Suez crisis and the choice of Eden's successor led, in 1957, to the first major personal criticism of Elizabeth. In a magazine, which he owned and edited, Lord Altrincham accused her of being "out of touch". Altrincham was denounced by public figures and slapped by a member of the public appalled by his comments. Six years later, in 1963, Macmillan resigned and advised Elizabeth to appoint the Earl of Home as the prime minister, advice she followed. Elizabeth again came under criticism for appointing the prime minister on the advice of a small number of ministers or a single minister. In 1965, the Conservatives adopted a formal mechanism for electing a leader, thus relieving the Queen of her involvement.
In 1957, Elizabeth made a state visit to the United States, where she addressed the United Nations General Assembly on behalf of the Commonwealth. On the same tour, she opened the 23rd Canadian Parliament, becoming the first monarch of Canada to open a parliamentary session. Two years later, solely in her capacity as Queen of Canada, she revisited the United States and toured Canada. In 1961, she toured Cyprus, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Iran. On a visit to Ghana the same year, she dismissed fears for her safety, even though her host, President Kwame Nkrumah, who had replaced her as head of state, was a target for assassins. Harold Macmillan wrote, "The Queen has been absolutely determined all through ... She is impatient of the attitude towards her to treat her as ... a film star ... She has indeed 'the heart and stomach of a man' ... She loves her duty and means to be a Queen." Before her tour through parts of Quebec in 1964, the press reported extremists within the Quebec separatist movement were plotting Elizabeth's assassination. No attempt was made, but a riot did break out while she was in Montreal; Elizabeth's "calmness and courage in the face of the violence" was noted.
Elizabeth gave birth to her third child, Prince Andrew, in February 1960, which was the first birth to a reigning British monarch since 1857. Her fourth child, Prince Edward, was born in March 1960. On 21 October 1966, the Aberfan disaster in Wales saw 116 children and 28 adults killed when a colliery spoil tip collapsed, catastrophically engulfing Pantglas Junior School and the surrounding houses in the village. The Queen was criticised for waiting eight days before deciding to visit the village, and her failure to promptly appear at the scene was a mistake that she later regretted.
The 1960s and 1970s saw an acceleration in the decolonisation of Africa and the Caribbean. More than 20 countries gained independence from Britain as part of a planned transition to self-government. In 1965, however, the Rhodesian prime minister, Ian Smith, in opposition to moves towards majority rule, unilaterally declared independence while expressing "loyalty and devotion" to Elizabeth, declaring her "Queen of Rhodesia". Although Elizabeth formally dismissed him, and the international community applied sanctions against Rhodesia, his regime survived for over a decade. As Britain's ties to its former empire weakened, the British government sought entry to the European Community, a goal it achieved in 1973.
Elizabeth toured Yugoslavia in October 1972, becoming the first British monarch to visit a communist country. She was received at the airport by President Josip Broz Tito, and a crowd of thousands greeted her in Belgrade.
In February 1974, the British prime minister, Edward Heath, advised Elizabeth to call a general election in the middle of her tour of the Austronesian Pacific Rim, requiring her to fly back to Britain. The election resulted in a hung parliament; Heath's Conservatives were not the largest party but could stay in office if they formed a coalition with the Liberals. When discussions on forming a coalition foundered, Heath resigned as prime minister and Elizabeth asked the Leader of the Opposition, Labour's Harold Wilson, to form a government.
A year later, at the height of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, the Australian prime minister, Gough Whitlam, was dismissed from his post by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, after the Opposition-controlled Senate rejected Whitlam's budget proposals. As Whitlam had a majority in the House of Representatives, Speaker Gordon Scholes appealed to Elizabeth to reverse Kerr's decision. She declined, saying she would not interfere in decisions reserved by the Constitution of Australia for the Governor-General. The crisis fuelled Australian republicanism.
In 1977, Elizabeth marked the Silver Jubilee of her accession. Parties and events took place throughout the Commonwealth, many coinciding with her associated national and Commonwealth tours. The celebrations re-affirmed Elizabeth's popularity, despite virtually coincident negative press coverage of Princess Margaret's separation from her husband, Lord Snowdon. In 1978, Elizabeth endured a state visit to the United Kingdom by Romania's communist leader, Nicolae Ceaușescu, and his wife, Elena, though privately she thought they had "blood on their hands". The following year brought two blows: one was the unmasking of Anthony Blunt, former Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, as a communist spy; the other was the assassination of her relative and in-law Lord Mountbatten by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
According to Paul Martin Sr., by the end of the 1970s Elizabeth was worried the Crown "had little meaning for" Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister. Tony Benn said Elizabeth found Trudeau "rather disappointing". Trudeau's supposed republicanism seemed to be confirmed by his antics, such as sliding down banisters at Buckingham Palace and pirouetting behind Elizabeth's back in 1977, and the removal of various Canadian royal symbols during his term of office. In 1980, Canadian politicians sent to London to discuss the patriation of the Canadian constitution found Elizabeth "better informed ... than any of the British politicians or bureaucrats". She was particularly interested after the failure of Bill C-60, which would have affected her role as head of state.
During the 1981 Trooping the Colour ceremony, six weeks before the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, six shots were fired at Elizabeth from close range as she rode down The Mall, London, on her horse, Burmese. Police later discovered the shots were blanks. The 17-year-old assailant, Marcus Sarjeant, was sentenced to five years in prison and released after three. Elizabeth's composure and skill in controlling her mount were widely praised. That October Elizabeth was the subject of another attack while on a visit to Dunedin, New Zealand. Christopher John Lewis, who was 17 years old, fired a shot with a .22 rifle from the fifth floor of a building overlooking the parade, but missed. Lewis was arrested, but instead of being charged with attempted murder or treason was sentenced to three years in jail for unlawful possession and discharge of a firearm. Two years into his sentence, he attempted to escape a psychiatric hospital with the intention of assassinating Charles, who was visiting the country with Diana and their son Prince William.
From April to September 1982, Elizabeth's son, Prince Andrew, served with British forces in the Falklands War, for which she reportedly felt anxiety and pride. On 9 July, she awoke in her bedroom at Buckingham Palace to find an intruder, Michael Fagan, in the room with her. In a serious lapse of security, assistance only arrived after two calls to the Palace police switchboard. After hosting US president Ronald Reagan at Windsor Castle in 1982 and visiting his California ranch in 1983, Elizabeth was angered when his administration ordered the invasion of Grenada, one of her Caribbean realms, without informing her.
Intense media interest in the opinions and private lives of the royal family during the 1980s led to a series of sensational stories in the press, pioneered by The Sun tabloid. As Kelvin MacKenzie, editor of The Sun, told his staff: "Give me a Sunday for Monday splash on the Royals. Don't worry if it's not true—so long as there's not too much of a fuss about it afterwards." Newspaper editor Donald Trelford wrote in The Observer of 21 September 1986: "The royal soap opera has now reached such a pitch of public interest that the boundary between fact and fiction has been lost sight of ... it is not just that some papers don't check their facts or accept denials: they don't care if the stories are true or not." It was reported, most notably in The Sunday Times of 20 July 1986, that Elizabeth was worried that Margaret Thatcher's economic policies fostered social divisions and was alarmed by high unemployment, a series of riots, the violence of a miners' strike, and Thatcher's refusal to apply sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa. The sources of the rumours included royal aide Michael Shea and Commonwealth secretary-general Shridath Ramphal, but Shea claimed his remarks were taken out of context and embellished by speculation. Thatcher reputedly said Elizabeth would vote for the Social Democratic Party—Thatcher's political opponents.[126] Thatcher's biographer, John Campbell, claimed "the report was a piece of journalistic mischief-making". Reports of acrimony between them were exaggerated, and Elizabeth gave two honours in her personal gift—membership in the Order of Merit and the Order of the Garter—to Thatcher after her replacement as prime minister by John Major. Brian Mulroney, Canadian prime minister between 1984 and 1993, said Elizabeth was a "behind the scenes force" in ending apartheid.
In 1986, Elizabeth paid a six-day state visit to the People's Republic of China, becoming the first British monarch to visit the country. The tour included the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China, and the Terracotta Warriors. At a state banquet, Elizabeth joked about the first British emissary to China being lost at sea with Queen Elizabeth I's letter to the Wanli Emperor, and remarked, "fortunately postal services have improved since 1602". Elizabeth's visit also signified the acceptance of both countries that sovereignty over Hong Kong would be transferred from the United Kingdom to China in 1997.
By the end of the 1980s, Elizabeth had become the target of satire. The involvement of younger members of the royal family in the charity game show It's a Royal Knockout in 1987 was ridiculed. In Canada, Elizabeth publicly supported politically divisive constitutional amendments, prompting criticism from opponents of the proposed changes, including Pierre Trudeau. The same year, the elected Fijian government was deposed in a military coup. As monarch of Fiji, Elizabeth supported the attempts of Governor-General Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau to assert executive power and negotiate a settlement. Coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka deposed Ganilau and declared Fiji a republic.
In the wake of coalition victory in the Gulf War, Elizabeth became the first British monarch to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress in May 1991.
On 24 November 1992, in a speech to mark the Ruby Jubilee of her accession to the throne, Elizabeth called 1992 her annus horribilis (a Latin phrase, meaning "horrible year"), Republican feeling in Britain had risen because of press estimates of Elizabeth's private wealth—contradicted by the Palace[d]—and reports of affairs and strained marriages among her extended family. In March, her second son, Prince Andrew, separated from his wife, Sarah, and Mauritius removed Elizabeth as head of state; her daughter, Princess Anne, divorced Captain Mark Phillips in April; angry demonstrators in Dresden threw eggs at Elizabeth during a state visit to Germany in October; and a large fire broke out at Windsor Castle, one of her official residences, in November. The monarchy came under increased criticism and public scrutiny. In an unusually personal speech, Elizabeth said that any institution must expect criticism, but suggested it might be done with "a touch of humour, gentleness and understanding". Two days later, British prime minister John Major announced plans to reform the royal finances, drawn up the previous year, including Elizabeth paying income tax from 1993 onwards, and a reduction in the civil list In December, Prince Charles and his wife, Diana, formally separated. At the end of the year, Elizabeth sued The Sun newspaper for breach of copyright when it published the text of her annual Christmas message two days before it was broadcast. The newspaper was forced to pay her legal fees and donated £200,000 to charity. Elizabeth's solicitors had taken successful action against The Sun five years earlier for breach of copyright after it published a photograph of her daughter-in-law the Duchess of York and her granddaughter Princess Beatrice.
In January 1994, Elizabeth broke the scaphoid bone in her left wrist as the horse she was riding at Sandringham tripped and fell. In October 1994, she became the first reigning British monarch to set foot on Russian soil.[e] In October 1995, Elizabeth was tricked into a hoax call by Montreal radio host Pierre Brassard impersonating Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien. Elizabeth, who believed that she was speaking to Chrétien, said she supported Canadian unity and would try to influence Quebec's referendum on proposals to break away from Canada.
In the year that followed, public revelations on the state of Charles and Diana's marriage continued. In consultation with her husband and John Major, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury (George Carey) and her private secretary (Robert Fellowes), Elizabeth wrote to Charles and Diana at the end of December 1995, suggesting that a divorce would be advisable.
In August 1997, a year after the divorce, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris. Elizabeth was on holiday with her extended family at Balmoral. Diana's two sons, Princes William and Harry, wanted to attend church, so Elizabeth and Philip took them that morning. Afterwards, for five days the royal couple shielded their grandsons from the intense press interest by keeping them at Balmoral where they could grieve in private, but the royal family's silence and seclusion, and the failure to fly a flag at half-mast over Buckingham Palace, caused public dismay. Pressured by the hostile reaction, Elizabeth agreed to return to London and address the nation in a live television broadcast on 5 September, the day before Diana's funeral. In the broadcast, she expressed admiration for Diana and her feelings "as a grandmother" for the two princes. As a result, much of the public hostility evaporated.
In October 1997, Elizabeth and Philip made a state visit to India, which included a controversial visit to the site of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre to pay her respects. Protesters chanted "Killer Queen, go back", and there were demands for her to apologise for the action of British troops 78 years earlier. At the memorial in the park, she and Philip laid a wreath and stood for a 30‑second moment of silence. As a result, much of the fury among the public softened and the protests were called off. That November, Elizabeth and her husband held a reception at Banqueting House to mark their golden wedding anniversary. Elizabeth made a speech and praised Philip for his role as a consort, referring to him as "my strength and stay".
In 1999, as part of the process of devolution within the UK, Elizabeth formally opened newly established legislatures for Wales and Scotland: the National Assembly for Wales at Cardiff in May, and the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh in July.
In 2002, Elizabeth marked her Golden Jubilee, the 50th anniversary of her accession. Her sister and mother died in February and March respectively, and the media speculated on whether the Jubilee would be a success or a failure. She again undertook an extensive tour of her realms, beginning in Jamaica in February, where she called the farewell banquet "memorable" after a power cut plunged King's House, the official residence of the governor-general, into darkness. As in 1977, there were street parties and commemorative events, and monuments were named to honour the occasion. One million people attended each day of the three-day main Jubilee celebration in London, and the enthusiasm shown for Elizabeth by the public was greater than many journalists had anticipated.
In 2003, Elizabeth sued the Daily Mirror for breach of confidence and obtained an injunction which prevented the outlet from publishing information gathered by a reporter who posed as a footman at Buckingham Palace. The newspaper also paid £25,000 towards her legal costs. Though generally healthy throughout her life, in 2003 she had keyhole surgery on both knees. In October 2006, she missed the opening of the new Emirates Stadium because of a strained back muscle that had been troubling her since the summer.
In May 2007, citing unnamed sources, The Daily Telegraph reported that Elizabeth was "exasperated and frustrated" by the policies of Tony Blair, that she was concerned the British Armed Forces were overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that she had raised concerns over rural and countryside issues with Blair. She was, however, said to admire Blair's efforts to achieve peace in Northern Ireland. She became the first British monarch to celebrate a diamond wedding anniversary in November 2007. On 20 March 2008, at the Church of Ireland St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, Elizabeth attended the first Maundy service held outside England and Wales.
Elizabeth addressed the UN General Assembly for a second time in 2010, again in her capacity as Queen of all Commonwealth realms and Head of the Commonwealth. The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, introduced her as "an anchor for our age". During her visit to New York, which followed a tour of Canada, she officially opened a memorial garden for British victims of the 9/11 attacks. Elizabeth's 11-day visit to Australia in October 2011 was her 16th visit to the country since 1954. By invitation of the Irish president, Mary McAleese, she made the first state visit to the Republic of Ireland by a British monarch in May 2011.
Elizabeth's 2012 Diamond Jubilee marked 60 years on the throne, and celebrations were held throughout her realms, the wider Commonwealth, and beyond. She and her husband undertook an extensive tour of the United Kingdom, while her children and grandchildren embarked on royal tours of other Commonwealth states on her behalf. On 4 June, Jubilee beacons were lit around the world. On 18 December, she became the first British sovereign to attend a peacetime Cabinet meeting since George III in 1781.
Elizabeth, who opened the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, also opened the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in London, making her the first head of state to open two Olympic Games in two countries. For the London Olympics, she played herself in a short film as part of the opening ceremony, alongside Daniel Craig as James Bond. On 4 April 2013, she received an honorary BAFTA for her patronage of the film industry and was called "the most memorable Bond girl yet" at the award ceremony.
On 3 March 2013, Elizabeth stayed overnight at King Edward VII's Hospital as a precaution after developing symptoms of gastroenteritis. A week later, she signed the new Charter of the Commonwealth. Because of her age and the need for her to limit travelling, in 2013 she chose not to attend the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting for the first time in 40 years. She was represented at the summit in Sri Lanka by Prince Charles. On 20 April 2018, the Commonwealth heads of government announced that she would be succeeded by Charles as Head of the Commonwealth, which she stated was her "sincere wish". She underwent cataract surgery in May 2018. In March 2019, she gave up driving on public roads, largely as a consequence of a car crash involving her husband two months earlier.
Elizabeth surpassed her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, to become the longest-lived British monarch on 21 December 2007, and the longest-reigning British monarch and longest-reigning queen regnant and female head of state in the world on 9 September 2015. She became the oldest current monarch after King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died on 23 January 2015. She later became the longest-reigning current monarch and the longest-serving current head of state following the death of King Bhumibol of Thailand on 13 October 2016, and the oldest current head of state on the resignation of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on 21 November 2017. On 6 February 2017, she became the first British monarch to commemorate a sapphire jubilee, and on 20 November, she was the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary. Philip had retired from his official duties as the Queen's consort in August 2017.
On 19 March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United Kingdom, Elizabeth moved to Windsor Castle and sequestered there as a precaution.[210] Public engagements were cancelled and Windsor Castle followed a strict sanitary protocol nicknamed "HMS Bubble".
On 5 April, in a televised broadcast watched by an estimated 24 million viewers in the UK, she asked people to "take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again." On 8 May, the 75th anniversary of VE Day, in a television broadcast at 9 pm—the exact time at which her father George VI had broadcast to the nation on the same day in 1945—she asked people to "never give up, never despair". In October, she visited the UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Wiltshire, her first public engagement since the start of the pandemic. On 4 November, she appeared masked for the first time in public, during a private pilgrimage to the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey, to mark the centenary of his burial. In 2021, she received her first and second COVID-19 vaccinations in January and April respectively.
Prince Philip died on 9 April 2021, after 73 years of marriage, making Elizabeth the first British monarch to reign as a widow or widower since Queen Victoria. She was reportedly at her husband's bedside when he died, and remarked in private that his death had "left a huge void". Due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place in England at the time, Elizabeth sat alone at Philip's funeral service, which evoked sympathy from people around the world. In her Christmas broadcast that year, she paid a personal tribute to her "beloved Philip", saying, "That mischievous, inquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when I first set eyes on him".
Despite the pandemic, Elizabeth attended the 2021 State Opening of Parliament in May, and the 47th G7 summit in June. On 5 July, the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the UK's National Health Service, she announced that the NHS would be awarded the George Cross to "recognise all NHS staff, past and present, across all disciplines and all four nations". In October 2021, she began using a walking stick during public engagements for the first time since her operation in 2004.[226] Following an overnight stay in hospital on 20 October, her previously scheduled visits to Northern Ireland, the COP26 summit in Glasgow, and the 2021 National Service of Remembrance were cancelled on health grounds. On Christmas Day 2021, while she was staying at Windsor Castle, 19-year-old Jaswant Singh Chail broke into the gardens using a rope ladder and carrying a crossbow with the aim of assassinating Elizabeth in revenge for the Amritsar massacre. Before he could enter any buildings, he was arrested and detained under the Mental Health Act. In 2023, he pled guilty to attempting to injure or alarm the sovereign.
Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee began on 6 February 2022, marking 70 years since she acceded to the throne on her father's death. On the eve of the date, she held a reception at Sandringham House for pensioners, local Women's Institute members and charity volunteers. In her accession day message, Elizabeth renewed her commitment to a lifetime of public service, which she had originally made in 1947.
Later that month, Elizabeth had "mild cold-like symptoms" and tested positive for COVID-19, along with some staff and family members. She cancelled two virtual audiences on 22 February, but held a phone conversation with British prime minister Boris Johnson the following day amid a crisis on the Russo-Ukrainian border, following which she made a donation to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. On 28 February, she was reported to have recovered and spent time with her family at Frogmore. On 7 March, Elizabeth met Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau at Windsor Castle, in her first in-person engagement since her COVID diagnosis. She later remarked that COVID infection "leave[s] one very tired and exhausted ... It's not a nice result".
Elizabeth was present at the service of thanksgiving for Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey on 29 March, but was unable to attend the annual Commonwealth Day service that month or the Royal Maundy service in April. She missed the State Opening of Parliament in May for the first time in 59 years. (She did not attend in 1959 and 1963 as she was pregnant with Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, respectively.) In her absence, Parliament was opened by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge as counsellors of state.
During the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, Elizabeth was largely confined to balcony appearances and missed the National Service of Thanksgiving. For the Jubilee concert, she took part in a sketch with Paddington Bear, that opened the event outside Buckingham Palace. On 13 June, she became the second-longest reigning monarch in history among those whose exact dates of reign are known, with 70 years, 127 days reigned—surpassing King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. On 6 September, she appointed her 15th British prime minister, Liz Truss, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. This marked the only time she did not receive a new prime minister at Buckingham Palace during her reign. No other British reign had seen so many prime ministers. The Queen's last public message was issued on 7 September to her Canadian people, in the aftermath of the Saskatchewan stabbings.
Elizabeth never planned to abdicate though she took on fewer public engagements as she grew older and Prince Charles took on more of her duties. The Queen told Canadian governor-general Adrienne Clarkson in a meeting in 2002 that she would never abdicate, saying "It is not our tradition. Although, I suppose if I became completely gaga, one would have to do something". In June 2022, Elizabeth met the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who "came away thinking there is someone who has no fear of death, has hope in the future, knows the rock on which she stands and that gives her strength."
On 8 September 2022, Buckingham Palace released a statement which read: "Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen's doctors are concerned for Her Majesty's health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision. The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral." Elizabeth's immediate family rushed to Balmoral to be by her side. She died peacefully at 15:10 BST at the age of 96, with two of her children, Charles and Anne, by her side. Her death was announced to the public at 18:30, setting in motion Operation London Bridge and, because she died in Scotland, Operation Unicorn.
Elizabeth was the first monarch to die in Scotland since James V in 1542. Her death certificate recorded her cause of death as "old age".
On 12 September, Elizabeth's coffin was carried up the Royal Mile in a procession to St Giles' Cathedral, where the Crown of Scotland was placed on it. Her coffin lay at rest at the cathedral for 24 hours, guarded by the Royal Company of Archers, during which around 33,000 people filed past the coffin. It was taken by air to London on 13 September. On 14 September, her coffin was taken in a military procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, where Elizabeth lay in state for four days. The coffin was guarded by members of both the Sovereign's Bodyguard and the Household Division. An estimated 250,000 members of the public filed past the coffin, as did politicians and other public figures. On 16 September, Elizabeth's children held a vigil around her coffin, and the next day her eight grandchildren did the same.
Elizabeth's state funeral was held at Westminster Abbey on 19 September, which marked the first time that a monarch's funeral service had been held at the Abbey since George II in 1760. More than a million people lined the streets of central London, and the day was declared a holiday in several Commonwealth countries. In Windsor, a final procession involving 1,000 military personnel took place which was witnessed by 97,000 people. Elizabeth's fell pony, and two royal corgis, stood at the side of the procession. After a committal service at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Elizabeth was interred with her husband Philip in the King George VI Memorial Chapel later the same day, in a private ceremony attended by her closest family members.
Elizabeth rarely gave interviews and little was known of her political opinions, which she did not express explicitly in public. It is against convention to ask or reveal the monarch's views. When Times journalist Paul Routledge asked her about the miners' strike of 1984–85 during a royal tour of the newspaper's offices, she replied that it was "all about one man" (a reference to Arthur Scargill), with which Routledge disagreed. Routledge was widely criticised in the media for asking the question and claimed that he was unaware of the protocols. After the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Prime Minister David Cameron was overheard saying that Elizabeth was pleased with the outcome. She had arguably issued a public coded statement about the referendum by telling one woman outside Balmoral Kirk that she hoped people would think "very carefully" about the outcome. It emerged later that Cameron had specifically requested that she register her concern.
Elizabeth had a deep sense of religious and civic duty, and took her Coronation Oath seriously. Aside from her official religious role as Supreme Governor of the established Church of England, she worshipped with that church and also the national Church of Scotland. She demonstrated support for inter-faith relations and met with leaders of other churches and religions, including five popes: Pius XII, John XXIII, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis. A personal note about her faith often featured in her annual Christmas Message broadcast to the Commonwealth. In 2000, she said:
To many of us, our beliefs are of fundamental importance. For me the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life. I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ's words and example.
Elizabeth was patron of more than 600 organisations and charities. The Charities Aid Foundation estimated that Elizabeth helped raise over £1.4 billion for her patronages during her reign. Her main leisure interests included equestrianism and dogs, especially her Pembroke Welsh Corgis. Her lifelong love of corgis began in 1933 with Dookie, the first corgi owned by her family. Scenes of a relaxed, informal home life were occasionally witnessed; she and her family, from time to time, prepared a meal together and washed the dishes afterwards.
In the 1950s, as a young woman at the start of her reign, Elizabeth was depicted as a glamorous "fairytale Queen". After the trauma of the Second World War, it was a time of hope, a period of progress and achievement heralding a "new Elizabethan age". Lord Altrincham's accusation in 1957 that her speeches sounded like those of a "priggish schoolgirl" was an extremely rare criticism. In the late 1960s, attempts to portray a more modern image of the monarchy were made in the television documentary Royal Family and by televising Prince Charles's investiture as Prince of Wales. Elizabeth also instituted other new practices; her first royal walkabout, meeting ordinary members of the public, took place during a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1970. Her wardrobe developed a recognisable, signature style driven more by function than fashion. In public, she took to wearing mostly solid-colour overcoats and decorative hats, allowing her to be seen easily in a crowd.
At Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee in 1977, the crowds and celebrations were genuinely enthusiastic; but, in the 1980s, public criticism of the royal family increased, as the personal and working lives of Elizabeth's children came under media scrutiny. Her popularity sank to a low point in the 1990s. Under pressure from public opinion, she began to pay income tax for the first time, and Buckingham Palace was opened to the public. Although support for republicanism in Britain seemed higher than at any time in living memory, republican ideology was still a minority viewpoint and Elizabeth herself had high approval ratings. Criticism was focused on the institution of the monarchy itself, and the conduct of Elizabeth's wider family, rather than her own behaviour and actions. Discontent with the monarchy reached its peak on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, although Elizabeth's personal popularity—as well as general support for the monarchy—rebounded after her live television broadcast to the world five days after Diana's death.
In November 1999, a referendum in Australia on the future of the Australian monarchy favoured its retention in preference to an indirectly elected head of state. Many republicans credited Elizabeth's personal popularity with the survival of the monarchy in Australia. In 2010, Prime Minister Julia Gillard noted that there was a "deep affection" for Elizabeth in Australia and that another referendum on the monarchy should wait until after her reign. Gillard's successor, Malcolm Turnbull, who led the republican campaign in 1999, similarly believed that Australians would not vote to become a republic in her lifetime. "She's been an extraordinary head of state", Turnbull said in 2021, "and I think frankly, in Australia, there are more Elizabethans than there are monarchists". Similarly, referendums in both Tuvalu in 2008 and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009 saw voters reject proposals to become republics.
Polls in Britain in 2006 and 2007 revealed strong support for the monarchy, and in 2012, Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee year, her approval ratings hit 90 per cent. Her family came under scrutiny again in the last few years of her life due to her son Andrew's association with convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre amidst accusations of sexual impropriety, and her grandson Harry and his wife Meghan's exit from the working royal family and subsequent move to the United States. Polling in Great Britain during the Platinum Jubilee, however, showed support for maintaining the monarchy and Elizabeth's personal popularity remained strong. As of 2021 she remained the third most admired woman in the world according to the annual Gallup poll, her 52 appearances on the list meaning she had been in the top ten more than any other woman in the poll's history.
Elizabeth was portrayed in a variety of media by many notable artists, including painters Pietro Annigoni, Peter Blake, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, Terence Cuneo, Lucian Freud, Rolf Harris, Damien Hirst, Juliet Pannett and Tai-Shan Schierenberg. Notable photographers of Elizabeth included Cecil Beaton, Yousuf Karsh, Anwar Hussein, Annie Leibovitz, Lord Lichfield, Terry O'Neill, John Swannell and Dorothy Wilding. The first official portrait photograph of Elizabeth was taken by Marcus Adams in 1926.
Elizabeth held many titles and honorary military positions throughout the Commonwealth, was sovereign of many orders in her own countries, and received honours and awards from around the world. In each of her realms, she had a distinct title that follows a similar formula: Queen of Saint Lucia and of Her other Realms and Territories in Saint Lucia, Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories in Australia, etc. In the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, which are Crown Dependencies rather than separate realms, she was known as Duke of Normandy and Lord of Mann, respectively. Additional styles include Defender of the Faith and Duke of Lancaster.
From 21 April 1944 until her accession, Elizabeth's arms consisted of a lozenge bearing the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom differenced with a label of three points argent, the centre point bearing a Tudor rose and the first and third a cross of St George. Upon her accession, she inherited the various arms her father held as sovereign. Elizabeth also possessed royal standards and personal flags for use in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and elsewhere.
Head of the Commonwealth Defender of the Faith Supreme Governor of the Church of England Head of the British Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Armed Forces Lord of Mann List of things named after Elizabeth II Royal Family Order Elizabeth Cross Queen's Official Birthday Flags
Royal Journey (1951)A Queen Is Crowned (1953)The Queen in Australia (1954)The Royal Tour of the Caribbean (1966)Royal Family (1969)Elizabeth R: A Year in the Life of the Queen (1992)Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work (2007)The Diamond Queen (2012)Elizabeth at 90: A Family Tribute (2016)The Coronation (2018)Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen (2022)
A Question of Attribution (1992 TV)Willi und die Windzors (1996)Her Majesty (2001)The Queen (2006)The Queen (2009 TV serial)Happy and Glorious (2012)A Royal Night Out (2015)Minions (2015)The Crown (2016–)The Queen's Corgi (2019)2020 Alternative Christmas message (2020)The Prince (2021)
Conversation Piece at the Royal Lodge, Windsor Wattle Queen Pietro Annigoni's portraits Reigning Queens Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – An 80th Birthday Portrait The Queen The Coronation Theatre: Portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II Beautiful Portrait, The Queen Queen Elizabeth II
Windsor Winnipeg Lagos York Minster
The Queen and IThe Little Princesses The Uncommon Reader Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the Queen Queen Camilla
"God Save the Queen" (Sex Pistols song)"Her Majesty"
Machin series (list)Wilding series Castle series Canadian domestic rate stamp Country definitives
Jewels of Elizabeth II Elizabeth line Sagana Lodge Villa Guardamangia Dorgi Children's Party at the Palace The Queen's Birthday Party Jeannette Charles Rosa 'Queen Elizabeth 'Queen Elizabeth cake
Jubilees of British monarchs
George III
Golden Jubilee (1809)
King's Statue Jubilee Rock Jubilee Tower (Moel Famau)
Victoria
Golden Jubilee (1887)
Honours Medal Police Medal Clock Tower, Weymouth Clock Tower, Brighton Bust Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition Jubilee Issue
Diamond Jubilee (1897)
Honours Medal Jubilee Diamond Cherries jubilee "Recessional" Devonshire House Ball Victoria and Merrie England
George V
Silver Jubilee (1935)
Medal Silver Jubilee (train)Silver Jubilee Railway Bridge Bharuch The King's Stamp Canadian silver dollar Jubilee (musical)Jubilee chicken
Elizabeth II
Silver Jubilee (1977)
Events Medal Honours Jubilee Gardens Jubilee line Jubilee Walkway "God Save the Queen" (Sex Pistols song)
Ruby Jubilee (1992)
Annus horribilis Elizabeth R: A Year in the Life of the Queen Queen's Anniversary Prize
Golden Jubilee (2002)
Prom at the Palace Party at the Palace Medal Honours Jubilee Odyssey Great British Trees Golden Jubilee chicken
Diamond Jubilee (2012)
Pageant Armed Forces Parade and Muster Thames Pageant Gloriana Spirit of Chartwell Concert Gibraltar Flotilla Medal Honours The Coronation Theatre: Portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee chicken
Sapphire Jubilee (2017)
Sapphire Jubilee Snowflake Brooch
Platinum Jubilee (2022)
Medal Beacons Platinum Party at the Palace Pageant Platinum Jubilee Celebration: A Gallop Through History2022 Trooping the Colour National Service of Thanksgiving Act of Loyalty Parade Platinum Pudding The Queen's Green Canopy Civic Honours Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen Statue of Elizabeth II (York Minster) The Bahamas Platinum Jubilee Sailing Regatta The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Concert Big Jubilee
Categories: British monarchy-related lists1977 in the United Kingdom Elizabeth II-related lists Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II Royal visits
Elizabeth II
Head of the Commonwealth
Formal photograph of Elizabeth facing right
Formal photograph, 1958
Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms (list)
Reign 6 February 1952 – 8 September 2022
Coronation 2 June 1953
Predecessor George VI
Successor Charles III
Born Princess Elizabeth of York
21 April 1926
Mayfair, London, England
Died 8 September 2022 (aged 96)
Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Burial 19 September 2022
King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
Spouse Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
(m. 1947; died 2021)
Issue
Detail
Charles III
Anne, Princess Royal
Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Forfar
Names
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary
House Windsor
Father George VI
Mother Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Signature Elizabeth's signature in black ink
Finances
Further information: Finances of the British royal family
View of Sandringham House from the south bank of the Upper Lake
Sandringham House, Elizabeth's residence in Norfolk, which she personally owned
Elizabeth's personal wealth was the subject of speculation for many years. In 1971, Jock Colville, her former private secretary and a director of her bank, Coutts, estimated her wealth at £2 million (equivalent to about £30 million in 2021. In 1993, Buckingham Palace called estimates of £100 million "grossly overstated". In 2002, she inherited an estate worth an estimated £70 million from her mother. The Sunday Times Rich List 2020 estimated her personal wealth at £350 million, making her the 372nd richest person in the UK. She was number one on the list when it began in the Sunday Times Rich List 1989, with a reported wealth of £5.2 billion (approximately £13.8 billion in today's value), which included state assets that were not hers personally.
The Royal Collection, which includes thousands of historic works of art and the Crown Jewels, was not owned personally but was described as being held in trust by Elizabeth for her successors and the nation, as were her official residences, such as Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, and the Duchy of Lancaster, a property portfolio valued at £472 million in 2015. The Paradise Papers, leaked in 2017, show that the Duchy of Lancaster held investments in the British tax havens of the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. Sandringham House in Norfolk and Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire were personally owned by Elizabeth. The Crown Estate—with holdings of £14.3 billion in 2019—is held in trust and could not be sold or owned by her in a personal capacity.
Personal flag of Elizabeth II
21 April 1926 – 11 December 1936: Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York
11 December 1936 – 20 November 1947: Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth
20 November 1947 – 6 February 1952: Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh
6 February 1952 – 8 September 2022: Her Majesty The Queen
Elizabeth held many titles and honorary military positions throughout the Commonwealth, was sovereign of many orders in her own countries, and received honours and awards from around the world. In each of her realms, she had a distinct title that follows a similar formula: Queen of Saint Lucia and of Her other Realms and Territories in Saint Lucia, Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories in Australia, etc. In the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, which are Crown Dependencies rather than separate realms, she was known as Duke of Normandy and Lord of Mann, respectively. Additional styles include Defender of the Faith and Duke of Lancaster.
When conversing with Elizabeth, the correct etiquette was to address her initially as Your Majesty and thereafter as Ma'am (pronounced /mæm/), with a short 'a' as in jam.
Arms
See also: Flags of Elizabeth II
From 21 April 1944 until her accession, Elizabeth's arms consisted of a lozenge bearing the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom differenced with a label of three points argent, the centre point bearing a Tudor rose and the first and third a cross of St George. Upon her accession, she inherited the various arms her father held as sovereign. Elizabeth also possessed royal standards and personal flags for use in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and elsewhere.[319]
Issue
Name Birth Marriage Children Grandchildren
Date Spouse
Charles III 14 November 1948 (age 73) 29 July 1981
Divorced 28 August 1996 Lady Diana Spencer William, Prince of Wales
Prince George of Wales
Princess Charlotte of Wales
Prince Louis of Wales
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
Archie Mountbatten-Windsor
Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor
9 April 2005 Camilla Parker Bowles None
Anne, Princess Royal 15 August 1950 (age 72) 14 November 1973
Divorced 28 April 1992 Mark Phillips Peter Phillips
Savannah Phillips
Isla Phillips
Zara Tindall
Mia Tindall
Lena Tindall
Lucas Tindall
12 December 1992 Timothy Laurence None
Prince Andrew, Duke of York 19 February 1960 (age 62) 23 July 1986
Divorced 30 May 1996 Sarah Ferguson Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi Sienna Mapelli Mozzi
Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank August Brooksbank
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Forfar 10 March 1964 (age 58) 19 June 1999 Sophie Rhys-Jones Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor None
James Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn None
Ancestry
Ancestors of Elizabeth II
See also
Household of Elizabeth II
List of things named after Elizabeth II
List of jubilees of Elizabeth II
List of special addresses made by Elizabeth II
Royal eponyms in Canada
Royal descendants of Queen Victoria and of King Christian IX
Notes
Her godparents were: King George V and Queen Mary; Lord Strathmore; Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (her paternal great-granduncle); Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles (her paternal aunt); and Lady Elphinstone (her maternal aunt).
Television coverage of the coronation was instrumental in boosting the medium's popularity; the number of television licences in the United Kingdom doubled to 3 million, and many of the more than 20 million British viewers watched television for the first time in the homes of their friends or neighbours. In North America, almost 100 million viewers watched recorded broadcasts.
The only previous state visit by a British monarch to Russia was made by King Edward VII in 1908. The King never stepped ashore, and met Nicholas II on royal yachts off the Baltic port of what is now Tallinn, Estonia. During the four-day visit, which was considered to be one of the most important foreign trips of Elizabeth's reign, she and Philip attended events in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
Russia invaded Ukraine one day later.
External links
Listen to this article (54 minutes)
53:31
Spoken Wikipedia icon
This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 23 June 2014, and does not reflect subsequent edits.
(Audio help · More spoken articles)
Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Family website
Queen Elizabeth II at the website of the Government of Canada
Portraits of Queen Elizabeth II at the National Portrait Gallery, London Edit this at Wikidata
Queen Elizabeth II at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
Appearances on C-SPAN Edit this at Wikidata
Titles and succession
Elizabeth II
Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms (1952–2022)
Monarchies
Antigua and Barbuda Australia Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Ceylon Fiji Gambia Ghana Grenada Guyana Jamaica Kenya Malawi Malta Mauritius New Zealand Nigeria Pakistan Papua New Guinea Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sierra Leone Solomon Islands South Africa Tanganyika Trinidad and Tobago Tuvalu Uganda United Kingdom
Family
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (husband) Charles III (son)Anne, Princess Royal (daughter)Prince Andrew, Duke of York (son)Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Forfar (son)George VI (father)Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (mother)Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (sister)Mountbatten-Windsor family
Accession and coronation
Proclamation of accession Coronation Royal guests Participants in the procession Coronation chicken Coronation gown Medal Honours Award The Queen's Beasts Treetops Hotel MacCormick v Lord Advocate
Reign
Annus horribilis Household Personality and image Prime ministers Pillar Box War Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence Queen of Rhodesia Christopher John Lewis incident Lithgow Plot Marcus Sarjeant incident 1975 Australian constitutional crisis Palace letters Michael Fagan incident1987 Fijian coups d'état Death of Diana, Princess of Wales1999 Australian republic referendum Perth Agreement State Opening of Parliament 20212022Operation London Bridge Death and state funeral reactions queue dignitaries at the funeral
Jubilees
Silver Jubilee
Events Medal Honours Jubilee Gardens Jubilee line Jubilee
Ruby Jubilee
Queen's Anniversary Prize
Golden Jubilee
Prom at the Palace Party at the Palace Medal Honours The Odyssey
Diamond Jubilee
Pageant Armed Forces Parade and Muster Thames Pageant Gloriana Spirit of Chartwell Concert Gibraltar Flotilla Medal Honours
Sapphire Jubilee
Platinum Jubilee
Medal Beacons Platinum Party at the Palace Pageant Platinum Jubilee Celebration: A Gallop Through History Trooping the Colour National Service of Thanksgiving Platinum Pudding The Queen's Green Canopy Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours The Bahamas Platinum Jubilee Sailing Regatta The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Concert Big Jubilee Read
Commonwealth
tours
Antigua and Barbuda Australia official openings Canada Jamaica New Zealand Saint Lucia
Ships used
HMS Vanguard (23)SS Gothic (1947)HMY Britannia
State visits
Outgoing
State visit to Spain State visit to Russia State visit to Ireland
Incoming
Pope Benedict XVI President Michael D. Higgins President Xi Jinping
Titles and
honours
Head of the Commonwealth Defender of the Faith Supreme Governor of the Church of England Head of the British Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Armed Forces Lord of Mann List of things named after Elizabeth II Royal Family Order Elizabeth Cross Queen's Official Birthday Flags
Depictions
Televised addresses
Royal address to the nation Royal Christmas Message
Documentaries
Royal Journey (1951)A Queen Is Crowned (1953)The Queen in Australia (1954)The Royal Tour of the Caribbean (1966)Royal Family (1969)Elizabeth R: A Year in the Life of the Queen (1992)Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work (2007)The Diamond Queen (2012)Elizabeth at 90: A Family Tribute (2016)The Coronation (2018)Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen (2022)
Film and
television
A Question of Attribution (1992 TV)Willi und die Windzors (1996)Her Majesty (2001)The Queen (2006)The Queen (2009 TV serial)Happy and Glorious (2012)A Royal Night Out (2015)Minions (2015)The Crown (2016–)The Queen's Corgi (2019)2020 Alternative Christmas message (2020)The Prince (2021)
Plays
A Question of Attribution (1988) The Audience (2013) Handbagged
Portraits
Conversation Piece at the Royal Lodge, Windsor Wattle Queen Pietro Annigoni's portraits Reigning Queens Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – An 80th Birthday Portrait The Queen The Coronation Theatre: Portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II Beautiful Portrait, The Queen Queen Elizabeth II Algorithm Queen
Statues
Windsor Winnipeg Lagos York Minster
Books
The Queen and I The Little Princesses The Uncommon Reader Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the Queen Queen Camilla
Songs
"God Save the Queen" (Sex Pistols song)"Her Majesty"
Stamps
Machin series (list)Wilding series Castle series Canadian domestic rate stamp Country definitives
Animals
Corgis
Dookie Susan
Horses
Aureole Burmese Carrozza Dunfermline Estimate Height of Fashion Highclere Pall Mall Winston
Related
Jewels of Elizabeth II Elizabeth line Sagana Lodge Villa Guardamangia Dorgi Children's Party at the Palace The Queen's Birthday Party Jeannette Charles Rosa 'Queen Elizabeth' Queen Elizabeth cake
Links to related articles
English, Scottish and British monarchs
Monarchs of England until 1603 Monarchs of Scotland until 1603
Alfred the Great Edward the Elder Ælfweard Æthelstan Edmund I Eadred Eadwig Edgar the Peaceful Edward the Martyr Æthelred the Unready Sweyn Edmund Ironside Cnut Harold I Harthacnut Edward the Confessor Harold Godwinson Edgar Ætheling William I William II Henry I Stephen Matilda Henry II Henry the Young King Richard I John Henry III Edward I Edward II Edward III Richard II Henry IV Henry V Henry VI Edward IV Edward V Richard III Henry VII Henry VIII Edward VI Jane Mary I and Philip Elizabeth I
Kenneth I MacAlpin Donald I Constantine I Áed Giric Eochaid Donald II Constantine II Malcolm II Dub Cuilén Amlaíb Kenneth II Constantine III Kenneth III Malcolm II Duncan I Macbeth Lulach Malcolm III Donald III Duncan II Edgar Alexander I David I Malcolm IV William I Alexander II Alexander III Margaret John Robert I David II Edward Balliol Robert II Robert III James I James II James III James IV James V Mary I James VI
Monarchs of England and Scotland after the Union of the Crowns from 1603
James I and VI Charles I Charles II James II and VII William III and II and Mary II Anne
British monarchs after the Acts of Union 1707
Anne George I George II George III George IV William IV Victoria Edward VII George V Edward VIII George VI Elizabeth II Charles III
Debatable or disputed rulers are in italics.
British princesses
The generations indicate descent from George I, who formalised the use of the titles prince and princess for members of the British royal family. Where a princess may have been or is descended from George I more than once, her most senior descent, by which she bore or bears her title, is used.
1st generation
Sophia Dorothea, Queen in Prussia
2nd generation
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange Princess Amelia Princess Caroline Mary, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel Louise, Queen of Denmark and Norway
3rd generation
Augusta, Duchess of Brunswick Princess Elizabeth Princess Louisa Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark and Norway
4th generation
Charlotte, Princess Royal and Queen of Württemberg Princess Augusta Sophia Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh Princess Sophia Princess Amelia Princess Sophia of Gloucester Princess Caroline of Gloucester
5th generation
Princess Charlotte, Princess Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Princess Elizabeth of Clarence Queen Victoria Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck
6th generation
Victoria, Princess Royal and German Empress Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine Princess Helena, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll Princess Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg Princess Frederica, Baroness von Pawel-Rammingen Princess Marie of Hanover
7th generation
Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife Princess Victoria Maud, Queen of Norway Marie, Queen of Romania Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia Princess Alexandra, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg Princess Beatrice, Duchess of Galliera Margaret, Crown Princess of Sweden Princess Patricia, Lady Patricia Ramsay Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone Princess Marie Louise, Princess Maximilian of Baden Alexandra, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Princess Olga of Hanover
8th generation
Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk Princess Sibylla, Duchess of Västerbotten Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Frederica, Queen of Greece
9th generation
Queen Elizabeth II Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy
10th generation
Anne, Princess Royal
11th generation
Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor1
12th generation
Princess Charlotte of Wales Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor1
1 Status debatable; see Lady Louise Windsor #Titles and styles and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor#Title and succession for details.
Duchesses of Edinburgh
Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha Duchesses of Gloucester and Edinburgh Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom Camilla Shand
Time Persons of the Year
1927–1950
Charles Lindbergh (1927)Walter Chrysler (1928)Owen D. Young (1929)Mohandas Gandhi (1930)Pierre Laval (1931)Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932)Hugh S. Johnson (1933)Franklin D. Roosevelt (1934)Haile Selassie (1935)Wallis Simpson (1936)Chiang Kai-shek / Soong Mei-ling (1937)Adolf Hitler (1938)Joseph Stalin (1939)Winston Churchill (1940)Franklin D. Roosevelt (1941)Joseph Stalin (1942)George Marshall (1943)Dwight D. Eisenhower (1944)Harry S. Truman (1945)James F. Byrnes (1946)George Marshall (1947)Harry S. Truman (1948)Winston Churchill (1949)The American Fighting-Man (1950)
1951–1975
Mohammed Mosaddeq (1951)Elizabeth II (1952)Konrad Adenauer (1953)John Foster Dulles (1954)Harlow Curtice (1955)Hungarian Freedom Fighters (1956)Nikita Khrushchev (1957)Charles de Gaulle (1958)Dwight D. Eisenhower (1959)U.S. Scientists: George Beadle / Charles Draper / John Enders / Donald A. Glaser / Joshua Lederberg / Willard Libby / Linus Pauling / Edward Purcell / Isidor Rabi / Emilio Segrè / William Shockley / Edward Teller / Charles Townes / James Van Allen / Robert Woodward (1960)John F. Kennedy (1961)Pope John XXIII (1962)Martin Luther King Jr. (1963)Lyndon B. Johnson (1964)William Westmoreland (1965)The Generation Twenty-Five and Under (1966)Lyndon B. Johnson (1967)The Apollo 8 Astronauts: William Anders / Frank Borman / Jim Lovell (1968)The Middle Americans (1969)Willy Brandt (1970)Richard Nixon (1971)Henry Kissinger / Richard Nixon (1972)John Sirica (1973)King Faisal (1974)American Women: Susan Brownmiller / Kathleen Byerly / Alison Cheek / Jill Conway / Betty Ford / Ella Grasso / Carla Hills / Barbara Jordan / Billie Jean King / Susie Sharp / Carol Sutton / Addie Wyatt (1975)
1976–2000
Jimmy Carter (1976)Anwar Sadat (1977)Deng Xiaoping (1978)Ayatollah Khomeini (1979)Ronald Reagan (1980)Lech Wałęsa (1981)The Computer (1982)Ronald Reagan / Yuri Andropov (1983)Peter Ueberroth (1984)Deng Xiaoping (1985)Corazon Aquino (1986)Mikhail Gorbachev (1987)The Endangered Earth (1988)Mikhail Gorbachev (1989)George H. W. Bush (1990)Ted Turner (1991)Bill Clinton (1992)The Peacemakers: Yasser Arafat / F. W. de Klerk / Nelson Mandela / Yitzhak Rabin (1993)Pope John Paul II (1994)Newt Gingrich (1995)David Ho (1996)Andrew Grove (1997)Bill Clinton / Ken Starr (1998)Jeff Bezos (1999)George W. Bush (2000)
2001–present
Rudolph Giuliani (2001)The Whistleblowers: Cynthia Cooper / Coleen Rowley / Sherron Watkins (2002)The American Soldier (2003)George W. Bush (2004)The Good Samaritans: Bono / Bill Gates / Melinda Gates (2005)You (2006)Vladimir Putin (2007)Barack Obama (2008)Ben Bernanke (2009)Mark Zuckerberg (2010)The Protester (2011)Barack Obama (2012)Pope Francis (2013)Ebola Fighters: Dr. Jerry Brown / Dr. Kent Brantly / Ella Watson-Stryker / Foday Gollah / Salome Karwah (2014)Angela Merkel (2015)Donald Trump (2016)The Silence Breakers (2017)The Guardians: Jamal Khashoggi / Maria Ressa / Wa Lone / Kyaw Soe Oo / Staff of The Capital (2018)Greta Thunberg (2019)Joe Biden / Kamala Harris (2020)Elon Musk (2021)
Monarchs of Canada
House of Hanover (1867–1901)
Victoria
House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1901–1917)
Edward VII George V
House of Windsor (1917–present)
George V Edward VIII George VI Elizabeth II Charles III
Heads of state of Barbados
Queen (1966–2021)
Elizabeth II
Flag of Barbados
President (from 2021)
Mason
Heads of state of Fiji
Queen (1970–1987)
Elizabeth II
Flag of Fiji
President (from 1987)
Rabuka§GanilauMaraBainimarama§IloiloBainimarama§IloiloNailatikauKonroteKatonivere
§Head of the military regime
Heads of State of The Gambia
Queen (1965–1970)
Elizabeth II
flag The Gambia portal
President of the First Republic (1970–1994)
Jawara
Military regime (1994–1996)
Jammeh
President of the Second Republic (from 1996)
Jammeh Barrow
Heads of State of Ghana
Queen (1957–1960)
Elizabeth II
Flag of Ghana
President of the First Republic (1960–1966)
Nkrumah
Military regime (1966–1969)
Ankrah Afrifa
President of the Second Republic (1969–1972)
Afrifa Ollennu*E. Akufo-Addo
Military regime (1972–1979)
Acheampong Akuffo Rawlings
President of the Third Republic (1979–1981)
Limann
Military regime (1981–1993)
Rawlings
President of the Fourth Republic (from 1993)
Rawlings Kufuor Mills Mahama N. Akufo-Addo
*Acting President
Heads of State of Guyana
Queen (1966–1970)
Elizabeth II
Flag of Guyana.svg
President (from 1970)
Chung Burnham Hoyte C. Jagan Hinds J. Jagan Jagdeo Ramotar Granger Ali
Heads of state of Jamaica
Monarch (from 1962)
Elizabeth II Charles III
flag Jamaica portal
Governor-General (from 1962)
Blackburne Campbell Glasspole Cooke Hall Allen
Heads of State of Kenya
Queen of Kenya
Elizabeth II
Flag of Kenya.svg
President of Kenya
Jomo Kenyatta Daniel arap Moi Mwai Kibaki Uhuru Kenyatta William Ruto
Heads of State of Malawi
Queen (1964–1966)
Elizabeth II
Flag of Malawi
President (from 1966)
H. Banda Muluzi B. Mutharika J. Banda P. Mutharika Chakwera
Heads of State of Malta
Queen (1964–1974)
Elizabeth II
Flag of Malta
President (from 1974)
Mamo Buttigieg Hyzler *BarbaraXuereb *Tabone Mifsud Bonnicide Marco Fenech Adami Abela Coleiro Preca Vella
*Acting President
Heads of State of Mauritius
Queen (1968–1992)
Elizabeth II
Flag of Mauritius
President (from 1992)
RingadooUteemChettiar*Pillay*OffmannBundhun*JugnauthBellepeau*PurryagBellepeau*GuribVyapoory*Balancy*Roopun
*Acting President
Heads of state of Nigeria
Queen (1960–1963)
Elizabeth II
Flag of Nigeria
President of the First Republic (1963–1966)
Azikiwe
Military regime (1966–1979)
Aguiyi-Ironsi Gowon Mohammed Obasanjo
President of the Second Republic (1979–1983)
Shehu Shagari
Military regime (1983–1999)
Buhari Babangida Shonekan (interim)*Abacha Abubakar
President of the Fourth Republic (from 1999)
Obasanjo Yar'Adua Jonathan Buhari
*Civilian; headed transition to abortive Third Republic
Heads of State of Pakistan
Monarch (1947–1956)
George VI Elizabeth II
Flag of Pakistan
President (from 1956)
Mirza A. Khan§ Y. Khan §Bhutto Chaudhry Zia§G. KhanSajjad*LeghariSajjad*TararMusharraf§Soomro*ZardariHussainAlvi
§Head of the military regime *Acting President
Heads of State of Sierra Leone
Queen (1961–1971)
Elizabeth II
Flag of Sierra Leone
President of the First Republic (1971–1992)
Cole*Stevens Momoh
Military regime (1992–1996)
Kanu Strasser Bio
President of the Second Republic (1996–1997)
Kabbah
Military regime (1997–1998)
J. P. Koroma
President of the Second Republic (since 1998)
Kabbah E. B. Koroma Bio
*Acting President
Heads of State of Ceylon and Sri Lanka
Monarch of Ceylon (1948–1972)
George VI Elizabeth II
Flag of Ceylon (1951–1972).
Flag of Ceylon (1951–1972)
Flag of Sri Lanka
President of Sri Lanka (from 1972)
Gopallawa Jayewardene Premadasa Wijetunga Kumaratunga Rajapaksa Sirisena
Heads of State of South Africa
Monarch (1910–1961)
George V Edward VIII George VI Elizabeth II
Red Ensign of South Africa (1912–1951)
Flag of South Africa (1928–1994)
Flag of South Africa
State President (1961–1994)
(under Apartheid)
Charles Robberts Swart Eben Dönges †Tom Naudé*Jim Fouché Jan de Klerk*Nico Diederichs †Marais Viljoen*John Vorster Marais Viljoen P. W. Botha F. W. de Klerk
President (from 1994)
(post-Apartheid)
Nelson Mandela Thabo MbekiIvy Matsepe-Casaburri *Kgalema Motlanthe Jacob Zuma Cyril Ramaphosa
†Died in office *Acting President
Heads of State of Tanzania
Queen of Tanganyika (1961–1962)
Elizabeth II
Flag of Tanganyika
Flag of Tanzania
President of Tanganyika (1962–1964)
Nyerere
Tanzania* (from 1964)
Nyerere Mwinyi Mkapa Kikwete Magufuli
*Merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar
Heads of state of Trinidad and Tobago
Queen (1962–1976)
Elizabeth II
Flag of Trinidad and Tobago
President (from 1976)
Clarke Hassan ali Robinson Richards Carmona Weekes
Presidential elections
1976 1982 1987 1992 1997 2003 2008 2013 2018 20232
Heads of State of Uganda
Queen (1962–1963)
Elizabeth II
Flag of Uganda
President (from 1963)
Edward Mutesa II Milton OboteIdi Amin Yusuf Lule Godfrey Binaisa Paulo Muwanga Presidential Commission Milton Obote Bazilio Olara-Okello Tito Okello Yoweri Museveni
Heads of State of Zimbabwe and its antecedents
Southern Rhodesia
(1923–1965, the internationally accepted legal name until 1980)
George V Edward VIII George VI Elizabeth II
Rhodesia
(1965–1979, an unrecognised state)
Clifford Dupont Henry Everard*John Wrathall Henry Everard*Jack Pithey*Henry Everard*
Zimbabwe Rhodesia
(1979, an unrecognised state)
Josiah Zion Gumede
Zimbabwe
(since 1980, a recognised state)
Canaan Banana Robert Mugabe Emmerson Mnangagwa
*Acting President
Portals:
icon Monarchy
British Empire
flag United Kingdom
flag England
icon London
flag Scotland
flag Wales
icon Northern Ireland
flag Australia
flag Belize
flag Canada
flag Jamaica
flag New Zealand
Norway Chile Spain France (data) Catalonia Germany Italy Israel United States Latvia Japan Czech Republic Australia Korea Croatia Poland Russia Sweden Vatican
Art galleries and museums
Te Papa (New Zealand)
Art research institutes
Artist Names (Getty)
Biographical dictionaries
Germany
Scientific databases
CiNii (Japan)
Other
Faceted Application of Subject Terminology Music Brainz artist National Archives (US)RISM (France) 1RERO (Switzerland) 1Social Networks and Archival Context SUDOC (France) 1Trove (Australia) 1
Categories: Elizabeth II1926 births2022 deaths20th-century British monarchs20th-century British women21st-century British monarchs21st-century British women Auxiliary Territorial Service officers British Anglicans British philanthropists British Presbyterians British princesses British racehorse owners and breeders British women in World War II Burials at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle Daughters of emperors Deaths in Scotland Dethroned monarchs Duchesses of Edinburgh Heads of state of Antigua and Barbuda Heads of state of the Bahamas Heads of state of Barbados Heads of state of Belize Heads of state of Canada Heads of state of Fiji Heads of state of the Gambia Heads of state of Ghana Heads of state of Grenada Heads of state of Guyana Heads of state of Jamaica Heads of state of Kenya Heads of state of Malawi Heads of state of Malta Heads of state of Mauritius Heads of state of New Zealand Heads of state of Nigeria Heads of state of Pakistan Heads of state of Papua New Guinea Heads of state of Saint Kitts and Nevis Heads of state of Saint Lucia Heads of state of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Heads of state of Sierra Leone Heads of state of the Solomon Islands Heads of state of Tanganyika Heads of state of Trinidad and Tobago Heads of state of Tuvalu Heads of state of Uganda Heads of the Commonwealth Heirs to the British throne Honorary air commodores House of Windsor Jewellery collectors Lord High Admirals Monarchs of Australia Monarchs of Ceylon Monarchs of the Isle of Man Monarchs of South Africa Monarchs of the United Kingdom People from Mayfair People named in the Paradise Papers Queens regnant in the British Isles Time Person of the Year Women in the Canadian armed services
The standard circulating coinage of the United Kingdom, British Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories is denominated in pennies and pounds sterling (symbol "£"), and ranges in value from one penny sterling to two pounds. Since decimalisation, on 15 February 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 (new) pence. Before decimalisation, twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound.
British coins are minted by the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Wales. The Royal Mint also commissions the coins' designs.
In addition to the circulating coinage, the UK also mints commemorative decimal coins (crowns) in the denomination of five pounds. Ceremonial Maundy money and bullion coinage of gold sovereigns, half sovereigns, and gold and silver Britannia coins are also produced. Some territories outside the United Kingdom, which use the pound sterling, produce their own coinage, with the same denominations and specifications as the UK coinage but with local designs.
Currently circulating coinage
The current decimal coins consist of one penny and two pence in copper-plated steel, five pence and ten pence in nickel-plated steel, equilateral curve heptagonal twenty pence and fifty pence in cupronickel, and bimetallic one pound and two pound. All circulating coins have an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse, and various national and regional designs, and the denomination, on the reverse. All current coins carry an abbreviated Latin inscription whose full form, ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FIDEI DEFENSATRIX, translates to "Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, Queen and Defender of the Faith".
Denomination Obverse Reverse Diameter Thickness Mass Composition Edge Introduced
One penny Queen Elizabeth II Crowned portcullis with chains (1971–2008)
Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–present) 20.3 mm 1.52 mm 3.56 g Bronze (97% copper, 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin) Smooth 1971
1.65 mm Copper-plated steel 1992
Two pence Plume of ostrich feathers within a coronet (1971–2008)
Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–present) 25.9 mm 1.85 mm 7.12 g Bronze 1971
2.03 mm Copper-plated steel 1992
Five pence[a] Queen Elizabeth II Crowned thistle (1968–2008)
Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–present) 18 mm 1.7 mm 3.25 g Cupronickel (3:1) Milled 1990
1.89 mm Nickel-plated steel 2012
Ten pence[a] Crowned lion (1968–2008)
Segment of the Royal Arms (2008–present) 24.5 mm 1.85 mm 6.5 g Cupronickel (3:1) 1992
2.05 mm Nickel-plated steel 2012
Twenty pence Crowned Tudor Rose 21.4 mm 1.7 mm 5 g Cupronickel (5:1) Smooth, Reuleaux heptagon 1982
Segment of the Royal Arms 2008
Fifty pence[a] Britannia and lion 27.3 mm 1.78 mm 8 g Cupronickel (3:1) Smooth, Reuleaux heptagon 1997
Various commemorative designs 1998
Segment of the Royal Arms 2008
One pound Queen Elizabeth II Rose, leek, thistle, and shamrock encircled by a coronet 23.03–23.43 mm 2.8 mm 8.75 g Inner: Nickel-plated alloy
Outer: Nickel-brass Alternately milled and plain (12-sided) 28 March 2017[1]
Two pounds[b] Abstract concentric design representing technological development 28.4 mm 2.5 mm 12 g Inner: Cupronickel
Outer: Nickel-brass Milled with variable inscription and/or decoration 1997 (issued 1998)
Various commemorative designs 1999
Britannia 2015
The specifications and dates of introduction of the 5p, 10p, and 50p coins refer to the current versions. These coins were originally issued in larger sizes in 1968 and 1969 respectively.
This coin was originally issued in a smaller size in a single metal in 1986 for special issues only. It was redesigned as a bi-metallic issue for general circulation in 1997.
Production and distribution
All genuine UK coins are produced by the Royal Mint. The same coinage is used across the United Kingdom: unlike banknotes, local issues of coins are not produced for different parts of the UK. The pound coin until 2016 was produced in regional designs, but these circulate equally in all parts of the UK (see UK designs, below).
Every year, newly minted coins are checked for size, weight, and composition at a Trial of the Pyx. Essentially the same procedure has been used since the 13th century. Assaying is now done by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths on behalf of HM Treasury.
The 1p and 2p coins from 1971 are the oldest standard-issue coins still in circulation. Pre-decimal crowns are the oldest coins in general that are still legal tender, although they are in practice never encountered in general circulation.[2]
Coins from the British dependencies and territories that use sterling as their currency are sometimes found in change in other jurisdictions. Strictly, they are not legal tender in the United Kingdom; however, since they have the same specifications as UK coins, they are sometimes tolerated in commerce, and can readily be used in vending machines.
UK-issued coins are, on the other hand, generally fully accepted and freely mixed in other British dependencies and territories that use the pound.
An extensive coinage redesign was commissioned by the Royal Mint in 2005, and new designs were gradually introduced into the circulating British coinage from summer 2008. Except for the £1 coin, the pre-2008 coins remain legal tender and are expected to stay in circulation for the foreseeable future.
The estimated volume in circulation as at March 2016 is:[3]
Denomination Number of
pieces
(millions) Face value
(£m)
Two pounds 479 957.036
One pound 1,671 1,671.328
Fifty pence 1,053 526.153
Twenty-five pence 81 20
Twenty pence 3,004 600.828
Ten pence 1,713 171.312
Five pence 4,075 203.764
Two pence 6,714 134.273
One penny 11,430 114.299
Total 30,139 4,643.658
History of pre-decimal coinage
The penny before 1500
See also: Penny (English coin) and Scottish coinage
The English silver penny first appeared in the 8th century CE in adoption of Western Europe's Carolingian monetary system wherein 12 pence made a shilling and 20 shillings made a pound. The weight of the English penny was fixed at 22+1⁄2 troy grains (about 1.46 grams) by Offa of Mercia, an 8th-century contemporary of Charlemagne; 240 pennies weighed 5,400 grains or a tower pound (different from the troy pound of 5,760 grains). The silver penny was the only coin minted for 500 years, from c. 780 to 1280.
From the time of Charlemagne until the 12th century, the silver currency of England was made from the highest purity silver available. But there were disadvantages to minting currency of fine silver, notably the level of wear it suffered, and the ease with which coins could be "clipped", or trimmed. In 1158 a new standard for English coinage was established by Henry II with the "Tealby Penny" — the sterling silver standard of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. This was a harder-wearing alloy, yet it was still a rather high grade of silver. It went some way towards discouraging the practice of "clipping", though this practice was further discouraged and largely eliminated with the introduction of the milled edge seen on coins today.
The weight of a silver penny stayed constant at above 22 grains until 1344; afterwards its weight was reduced to 18 grains in 1351, to 15 grains in 1412, to 12 grains in 1464, and to 101⁄2 grains in 1527.
The history of the Royal Mint stretches back to AD 886.[4] For many centuries production was in London, initially at the Tower of London, and then at premises nearby in Tower Hill in what is today known as Royal Mint Court. In the 1970s production was transferred to Llantrisant in South Wales.[5] Historically Scotland and England had separate coinage; the last Scottish coins were struck in 1709 shortly after union with England.[6]
The penny after 1500
During the reign of Henry VIII, the silver content was gradually debased, reaching a low of one-third silver. However, in Edward VI's reign in 1551, this debased coinage was discontinued in favor of a return to sterling silver with the penny weighing 8 grains. The first crowns and half-crowns were produced that year. From this point onwards till 1920, sterling was the rule.
Coins were originally hand-hammered — an ancient technique in which two dies are struck together with a blank coin between them. This was the traditional method of manufacturing coins in the Western world from the classical Greek era onwards, in contrast with Asia, where coins were traditionally cast. Milled (that is, machine-made) coins were produced first during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and periodically during the subsequent reigns of James I and Charles I, but there was initially opposition to mechanisation from the moneyers, who ensured that most coins continued to be produced by hammering. All British coins produced since 1662 have been milled.
By 1601 it was decreed that one troy ounce or 480 grains of sterling silver be minted into 62 pennies (i.e. each penny weighed 7.742 grains). By 1696, the currency had been seriously weakened by an increase in clipping during the Nine Years' War[7] to the extent that it was decided to recall and replace all hammered silver coinage in circulation.[8] The exercise came close to disaster due to fraud and mismanagement,[9] but was saved by the personal intervention of Isaac Newton after his appointment as Warden of the Mint, a post which was intended to be a sinecure, but which he took seriously.[8] Newton was subsequently given the post of Master of the Mint in 1699. Following the 1707 union between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, Newton used his previous experience to direct the 1707–1710 Scottish recoinage, resulting in a common currency for the new Kingdom of Great Britain. After 15 September 1709 no further silver coins were ever struck in Scotland.[10]
As a result of a report written by Newton on 21 September 1717 to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury[11] the bimetallic relationship between gold coins and silver coins was changed by Royal proclamation on 22 December 1717, forbidding the exchange of gold guineas for more than 21 silver shillings.[12] Due to differing valuations in other European countries this unintentionally resulted in a silver shortage, as silver coins were used to pay for imports, while exports were paid for in gold, effectively moving Britain from the silver standard to its first gold standard, rather than the bimetallic standard implied by the proclamation.
The coinage reform of 1816 set up a weight/value ratio and physical sizes for silver coins. Each troy ounce of sterling silver was henceforth minted into 66 pence or 51⁄2 shillings.
In 1920, the silver content of all British coins was reduced from 92.5% to 50%, with some of the remainder consisting of manganese, which caused the coins to tarnish to a very dark colour after they had been in circulation for long. Silver was eliminated altogether in 1947, except for Maundy coinage, which returned to the pre-1920 92.5% silver composition.
The 1816 weight/value ratio and size system survived the debasement of silver in 1920, and the adoption of token coins of cupronickel in 1947. It even persisted after decimalisation for those coins which had equivalents and continued to be minted with their values in new pence. The UK finally abandoned it in 1992 when smaller, more convenient, "silver" coins were introduced.
History of decimal coinage
Decimalisation
Since decimalisation on 15 February 1971 the pound (symbol "£") has been divided into 100 pence. (Prior to decimalisation the pound was divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 [old] pence; thus, there were 240 [old] pence to the pound). The pound remained as Britain's currency unit after decimalisation (unlike in many other British commonwealth countries, which dropped the pound upon decimalisation by introducing dollars or new units worth 10 shillings or 1⁄2 pound). The following coins were introduced with these reverse designs:
Half penny, 1971–1984: A crown, symbolising the monarch.
One penny, 1971–2007: A crowned portcullis with chains (the badge of the Houses of Parliament).
Two pence, 1971–2007: The Prince of Wales's feathers: a plume of ostrich feathers within a coronet.
Five pence, 1968–2007: The Badge of Scotland, a thistle royally crowned.
Ten pence, 1968–2007: The lion of England royally crowned.
Fifty pence, 1969–2007: Britannia and lion.
The first decimal coins – the five pence (5p) and ten pence (10p) — were introduced in 1968 in the run-up to decimalisation in order to familiarise the public with the new system. These initially circulated alongside the pre-decimal coinage and had the same size and value as the existing one shilling and two shilling coins respectively. The fifty pence (50p) coin followed in 1969, replacing the old ten shilling note. The remaining decimal coins – at the time, the half penny (1⁄2p), penny (1p) and two pence (2p) — were issued in 1971 at decimalisation. A quarter-penny coin, to be struck in aluminium, was proposed at the time decimalisation was being planned, but was never minted.
The new coins were initially marked with the wording NEW PENNY (singular) or NEW PENCE (plural). The word "new" was dropped in 1982. The symbol "p" was adopted to distinguish the new pennies from the old, which used the symbol "d" (from the Latin denarius, a coin used in the Roman Empire).
Updates 1982–1998
In the years since decimalisation, a number of changes have been made to the coinage; these new denominations were introduced with the following designs:
Twenty pence, 1982–2007: A crowned Tudor Rose, a traditional heraldic emblem of England (NB With incuse design and lettering).
One pound, 1983–2016: various designs; see One pound (British coin).
Two pounds, 1997–2014: An abstract design of concentric circles, representing technological development from the Iron Age to the modern day electronic age.
Additionally:
The halfpenny was discontinued in 1984.
The composition of the 1p and 2p was changed in 1992 from bronze to copper-plated steel without changing the design.
The sizes of the 5p, 10p and 50p coins were reduced in 1990, 1992 and 1997, respectively, also without changing the design.
The twenty pence (20p) coin was introduced in 1982 to fill the gap between the 10p and 50p coins. The pound coin (£1) was introduced in 1983 to replace the Bank of England £1 banknote which was discontinued in 1984 (although the Scottish banks continued producing them for some time afterwards; the last of them, the Royal Bank of Scotland £1 note, is still issued in a small volume as of 2021). The designs on the £1 coin changed annually in a largely five-year cycle, until the introduction of the new 12-sided £1 coin in 2017.
The decimal halfpenny coin was demonetised in 1984 as its value was by then too small to be useful. The pre-decimal sixpence, shilling and two shilling coins, which had continued to circulate alongside the decimal coinage with values of 2+1⁄2p, 5p and 10p respectively, were finally withdrawn in 1980, 1990 and 1993 respectively. The double florin and crown, with values of 20p and 25p respectively, have technically not been withdrawn, but in practice are never seen in general circulation.
In the 1990s, the Royal Mint reduced the sizes of the 5p, 10p, and 50p coins. As a consequence, the oldest 5p coins in circulation date from 1990, the oldest 10p coins from 1992 and the oldest 50p coins come from 1997. Since 1997, many special commemorative designs of 50p have been issued. Some of these are found fairly frequently in circulation and some are rare. They are all legal tender.
In 1992 the composition of the 1p and 2p coins was changed from bronze to copper-plated steel. Due to their high copper content (97%), the intrinsic value of pre-1992 1p and 2p coins increased with the surge in metal prices of the mid-2000s, until by 2006 the coins would, if melted down, have been worth about 50% more than their face value.[13] (To do this, however, would be illegal, and they would have had to be melted in huge quantities, using quite a bit of energy, to achieve significant gain.) In later years, the price of copper fell considerably.[citation needed]
A circulating bimetallic two pound (£2) coin was introduced in 1998 (first minted in, and dated, 1997). There had previously been unimetallic commemorative £2 coins which did not normally circulate. This tendency to use the two pound coin for commemorative issues has continued since the introduction of the bimetallic coin, and a few of the older unimetallic coins have since entered circulation.
There are also commemorative issues of crowns. Until 1981, these had a face value of twenty-five pence (25p), equivalent to the five shilling crown used in pre-decimal Britain. However, in 1990 crowns were redenominated with a face value of five pounds (£5)[14] as the previous value was considered not sufficient for such a high-status coin. The size and weight of the coin remained exactly the same. Decimal crowns are generally not found in circulation as their market value is likely to be higher than their face value, but they remain legal tender.
Obverse designs
All modern British coins feature a profile of the current monarch's head on the obverse. There has been only one monarch since decimalisation, Queen Elizabeth II, so her head appears on all decimal coins, facing to the right (see also Monarch's head, above). However, five different effigies have been used, reflecting the Queen's changing appearance as she has aged. These are the effigies by Mary Gillick (until 1968), Arnold Machin (1968–1984), Raphael Maklouf (1985–1997), Ian Rank-Broadley (1998–2015), and Jody Clark (from 2015).[15]
All current coins carry a Latin inscription whose full form is ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FIDEI DEFENSATRIX, meaning "Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, Queen and Defender of the Faith". The inscription appears on the coins in any of several abbreviated forms, typically ELIZABETH II D G REG F D.
2008 redesign
In 2008, UK coins underwent an extensive redesign which eventually changed the reverse designs of all coins, the first wholesale change to British coinage since the first decimal coins were introduced in April 1968.[16] The major design feature was the introduction of a reverse design shared across six coins (1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p), that can be pieced together to form an image of the Royal Shield. This was the first time a coin design had been featured across multiple coins in this way.[16]To summarize the reverse design changes made in 2008 and afterwards:
The 1p coin depicts the lower part of the first quarter and the upper part of the third quarter of the shield, showing the lions passant of England and the harp of Ireland respectively
The 2p coin depicts most of the second quarter of the shield, showing the lion rampant of Scotland
The 5p coin depicts the centre of the shield, showing the meeting and parts of the constituent parts of the shield
The 10p coin depicts most of the first quarter of the shield, containing the three lions passant of England
The 20p coin depicts the lower part of the second quarter and upper part of the fourth quarter, showing the lion rampant of Scotland and the lions passant of England respectively
The 50p coin depicts the point of the shield and the bottom portions of the second and third quarters showing the harp of Ireland and lions passant of England respectively
The round, nickel-brass £1 coin from 2008–2016 depicted the whole of the Royal Shield. From 2017 it was changed to a bimetallic 12-sided coin depicting a rose, leek, thistle and shamrock bound by a crown.
The £2 coin from 2015 depicts Britannia.
The original intention was to exclude both the £1 and £2 coins from the redesign because they were "relatively new additions" to the coinage, but it was later decided to include a £1 coin with a complete Royal Shield design from 2008 to 2016,[17] and the 2015 redesign of the £2 coin occurred due to complaints over the disappearance of Britannia's image from the 50p coin in 2008.[18]
On all coins, the beading (ring of small dots) around the edge of the obverses has been removed. The obverse of the 20p coin has also been amended to incorporate the year, which had been on the reverse of the coin since its introduction in 1982 (giving rise to an unusual issue of a mule version without any date at all). The orientation of both sides of the 50p coin has been rotated through 180 degrees, meaning the bottom of the coin is now a corner rather than a flat edge. The numerals showing the decimal value of each coin, previously present on all coins except the £1 and £2, have been removed, leaving the values spelled out in words only.
The redesign was the result of a competition launched by the Royal Mint in August 2005, which closed on 14 November 2005. The competition was open to the public and received over 4,000 entries.[16] The winning entry was unveiled on 2 April 2008, designed by Matthew Dent.[16] The Royal Mint stated the new designs were "reflecting a twenty-first century Britain". An advisor to the Royal Mint described the new coins as "post-modern" and said that this was something that could not have been done 50 years previously.[19]
The redesign was criticised by some for having no specifically Welsh symbol (such as the Welsh Dragon), because the Royal Shield does not include a specifically Welsh symbol. Wrexham Member of Parliament (MP) Ian Lucas, who was also campaigning to have the Welsh Dragon included on the Union Flag, called the omission "disappointing", and stated that he would be writing to the Queen to request that the Royal Standard be changed to include Wales.[20] The Royal Mint stated that "the Shield of the Royal Arms is symbolic of the whole of the United Kingdom and as such, represents Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland."[20] Designer Dent stated "I am a Welshman and proud of it, but I never thought about the fact we did not have a dragon or another representation of Wales on the design because as far as I am concerned Wales is represented on the Royal Arms. This was never an issue for me."[20]
The Royal Mint's choice of an inexperienced coin designer to produce the new coinage was criticised by Virginia Ironside, daughter of Christopher Ironside who designed the previous UK coins. She stated that the new designs were "totally unworkable as actual coins", due to the loss of a numerical currency identifier, and the smaller typeface used.[21]
The German news magazine Der Spiegel claimed that the redesign signalled the UK's intention "not to join the euro any time soon".[22]
Changes after 2008
As of 2012, 5p and 10p coins have been issued in nickel-plated steel, and much of the remaining cupronickel types withdrawn, in order to retrieve more expensive metals. The new coins are 11% thicker to maintain the same weight.[23][24] There are heightened nickel allergy concerns over the new coins. Studies commissioned by the Royal Mint found no increased discharge of nickel from the coins when immersed in artificial sweat. However, an independent study found that the friction from handling results in four times as much nickel exposure as from the older-style coins. Sweden already plans to desist from using nickel in coins from 2015.[25]
In 2016, the £1 coin's composition was changed from a single-metal round shape to a 12-sided bi-metal design, with a slightly larger diameter, and with multiple past designs discontinued in favor of a single, unchanging design. Production of the new coins started in 2016,[26] with the first, dated 2016, entering circulation 28 March 2017.[27]
In February 2015, the Royal Mint announced a new design for the £2 coin featuring Britannia by Antony Dufort, with no change to its bimetallic composition.[28]
Edge inscriptions on British coins used to be commonly encountered on round £1 coins of 1983–2016, but are nowadays found only on £2 coins. The standard-issue £2 coin from 1997 to 2015 carried the edge inscription STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS. The redesigned coin since 2015 has a new edge inscription QUATUOR MARIA VINDICO, Latin for "I will claim the four seas", an inscription previously found on coins bearing the image of Britannia. Other commemorative £2 coins have their own unique edge inscriptions or designs.
Obsolete denominations
The following decimal coins have been withdrawn from circulation and have ceased to be legal tender.
Denomination Obverse Reverse Diameter Thickness Mass Composition Edge Introduced Withdrawn
Half Penny Queen Elizabeth II St Edward's Crown 17.4 mm 1 mm 1.78 g Bronze Smooth 1971 1984
Five pence* Queen Elizabeth II Crowned Thistle 23.59 mm 1.7 mm 5.65 g Cupronickel Milled 1968 1990
Ten pence* Crowned Lion 28.5 mm 1.85 mm 11.31 g 1992
Fifty pence* Seated Britannia alongside a Lion 30.0 mm 2.5 mm 13.5 g Smooth, Reuleaux heptagon 1969 1997
Various commemorative designs 1973
One Pound† Queen Elizabeth II Numerous different designs 22.5 mm 3.15 mm 9.5 g Nickel-brass Milled with variable inscription and/or decoration 1983 15 October 2017
Royal Shield 2008
Two pounds No standard reverse design 28.4 mm ~3 mm 15.98 g Nickel-brass 1986 1998
* The specifications and dates of 5p, 10p, and 50p coins refer to the larger sizes issued since 1968.
† The specification refers to the round coin issued from 1983–2016. Although obsolete, this coin is still redeemable at banks and the British railway systems, and is still legal tender on the Isle of Man.
Commemorative issues
Circulating commemorative designs
Circulating fifty pence and two pound coins have been issued with various commemorative reverse designs, typically to mark the anniversaries of historical events or the births of notable people.
Three commemorative designs were issued of the large version of the 50p: in 1973 (the EEC), 1992–3 (EC presidency) and 1994 (D-Day anniversary). Commemorative designs of the smaller 50p coin have been issued (alongside the Britannia standard issue) in 1998 (two designs), 2000, and from 2003 to 2007 yearly (two designs in 2006). For a complete list, see Fifty pence (British decimal coin).
Prior to 1997, the two pound coin was minted in commemorative issues only – in 1986, 1989, 1994, 1995 and 1996. Commemorative £2 coins have been regularly issued since 1999, alongside the standard-issue bi-metallic coins which were introduced in 1997. One or two designs have been minted each year, with the exception of none in 2000, and four regional 2002 issues marking the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. As well as a distinct reverse design, these coins have an edge inscription relevant to the subject. The anniversary themes are continued until at least 2009, with two designs announced. For a complete list, see Two pounds (British decimal coin).
From 2018–2019 a series of 10p coins with 26 different designs was put in circulation "celebrating Great Britain with The Royal Mint’s Quintessentially British A to Z series of coins".[29]
Non-circulating denominations
1981 commemorative twenty-five pence coin, celebrating the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
The following are special-issue commemorative coins, seldom encountered in normal circulation due to their precious metal content or collectible value, but are still considered legal tender.
Twenty-five pence or crown (25p; £0.25), 1972–1981
Five pounds or crown (£5), 1990–present [1]
Twenty pounds (£20), 2013–present
Fifty pounds (£50), 2015–2016
One hundred pounds (£100), 2015–2016
Denomination Obverse Reverse Diameter Thickness Mass Composition Edge Introduced
25 pence Queen Elizabeth II No standard reverse design 38.61 mm 2.89 mm 28.28 g Cupronickel or silver Milled, with variable inscription 1972
5 pounds 1990
20 pounds 27.0 mm Unknown 15.71 g Silver Milled 2013
50 pounds Britannia 34.0 mm 31 g 2015
100 pounds Elizabeth Tower 'Big Ben' 40.0 mm 62.86 g
Legal tender status of commemorative coins
The prolific issuance since 2013 of silver commemorative £20, £50 and £100 coins at face value has led to attempts to spend or deposit these coins, prompting the Royal Mint to clarify the legal tender status of these silver coins as well as the cupronickel £5 coin.[30][31][32] Royal Mint guidelines advise that, although these coins were approved as legal tender, they are considered limited edition collectables not intended for general circulation, and hence shops and banks are not obliged to accept them.
Maundy money
Maundy money is a ceremonial coinage traditionally given to the poor, and nowadays awarded annually to deserving senior citizens. There are Maundy coins in denominations of one, two, three and four pence. They bear dates from 1822 to the present and are minted in very small quantities. Though they are legal tender in the UK, they are rarely or never encountered in circulation. The pre-decimal Maundy pieces have the same legal tender status and value as post-decimal ones, and effectively increased in face value by 140% upon decimalisation. Their numismatic value is much greater.
Maundy coins still bear the original portrait of the Queen as used in the circulating coins of the first years of her reign.
Bullion coinage
The traditional bullion coin issued by Britain is the gold sovereign, formerly a circulating coin worth 20 shillings (or one pound) and with 0.23542 troy ounces (7.322 g) of fine gold, but now with a nominal value of one pound. The Royal Mint continues to produce sovereigns, as well as quarter sovereigns (introduced in 2009), half sovereigns, double sovereigns and quintuple sovereigns.
Between 1987 and 2012 a series of bullion coins, the Britannia, was issued, containing 1 troy ounce (31.1 g), 1⁄2 ounce, 1⁄4 ounce and 1⁄10 ounce of fine gold at a millesimal fineness of 916 (22 carat) and with face values of £100, £50, £25, and £10.
Since 2013 Britannia bullion contains 1 troy ounce of fine gold at a millesimal fineness of 999 (24 carat).
Between 1997 and 2012 silver bullion coins have also been produced under the name "Britannias". The alloy used was Britannia silver (millesimal fineness 958). The silver coins were available in 1 troy ounce (31.1 g), 1⁄2 ounce, 1⁄4 ounce and 1⁄10 ounce sizes. Since 2013 the alloy used is silver at a (millesimal fineness 999).
In 2016 the Royal Mint launched a series of 10 Queen's Beasts bullion coins,[33] one for each beast available in both gold and silver.
The Royal Mint also issues silver, gold and platinum proof sets of the circulating coins, as well as gift products such as gold coins set into jewellery.
Non-UK coinage
The British Islands (red) and overseas territories (blue) using the Pound or their local issue.
Outside the United Kingdom, the British Crown Dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey use the pound sterling as their currencies. However, they produce local issues of coinage in the same denominations and specifications, but with different designs. These circulate freely alongside UK coinage and English, Northern Irish, and Scottish banknotes within these territories, but must be converted in order to be used in the UK. The island of Alderney also produces occasional commemorative coins. (See coins of the Jersey pound, coins of the Guernsey pound, and Alderney pound for details.). The Isle of Man is a unique case among the Crown Dependencies, issuing its own currency, the Manx pound.[citation needed] While the Isle of Man recognises the Pound Sterling as a secondary currency, coins of the Manx pound are not legal tender in the UK.
The pound sterling is also the official currency of the British overseas territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands,[34] British Antarctic Territory[35] and Tristan da Cunha.[36] South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands produces occasional special collectors' sets of coins.[37] In 2008, British Antarctic Territory issued a £2 coin commemorating the centenary of Britain's claim to the region.[38]
The currencies of the British overseas territories of Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena/Ascension — namely the Gibraltar pound, Falkland Islands pound and Saint Helena pound — are pegged one-to-one to the pound sterling but are technically separate currencies. These territories issue their own coinage, again with the same denominations and specifications as the UK coinage but with local designs, as coins of the Gibraltar pound, coins of the Falkland Islands pound and coins of the Saint Helena pound.
The other British overseas territories do not use sterling as their official currency.
Pre-decimal coinage
Half crown, 1953
Two shilling coin, or florin, 1949
Shilling, 1956, showing English and Scottish reverses
For further information about the history of pre-decimal coinage, see Pound sterling and Decimal Day.
System
Before decimalisation in 1971, the pound was divided into 240 pence rather than 100, though it was rarely expressed in this way. Rather it was expressed in terms of pounds, shillings and pence, where:
£1 = 20 shillings (20s).
1 shilling = 12 pence (12d).
Thus: £1 = 240d. The penny was further subdivided at various times, though these divisions vanished as inflation made them irrelevant:
1 penny = 2 halfpennies and (earlier) 4 farthings (half farthing, a third of a farthing, and quarter farthing coins were minted in the late 19th century, and into the early 20th century in the case of the third farthing, but circulated only in certain British colonies and not in the UK).
Using the example of five shillings and sixpence, the standard ways of writing shillings and pence were:
5s 6d
5/6
5/- for 5 shillings only, with the dash to stand for zero pennies.
The sum of 5/6 would be spoken as "five shillings and sixpence" or "five and six".
The abbreviation for the old penny, d, was derived from the Roman denarius, and the abbreviation for the shilling, s, from the Roman solidus. The shilling was also denoted by the slash symbol, also called a solidus for this reason, which was originally an adaptation of the long s.[39] The symbol "£", for the pound, is derived from the first letter of the Latin word for pound, libra.[40]
A similar pre-decimal system operated in France, also based on the Roman currency, consisting of the livre (L), sol or sou (s) and denier (d). Until 1816 another similar system was used in the Netherlands, consisting of the gulden (G), stuiver (s; 1⁄20 G) and duit, (d; 1⁄8 s or 1⁄160 G).
Denominations
For an extensive list of historical pre-decimal coin denominations, see List of British banknotes and coins.
In the years just prior to decimalisation, the circulating British coins were:
Denomination Obverse Reverse Diameter Thickness Mass Composition Edge Introduced Withdrawn
Farthing (1⁄4d) Various Monarchs Wren (Britannia on early mintages) 20.19 mm 2.83 g Bronze Smooth 1860 1961
Half penny (1⁄2d) Golden Hind (Britannia on early mintages) 25.48 mm 5.67 g 1969
Penny (1d) Britannia 31 mm 9.45 g 1971
Threepence (3d) King George VI 1937–1952
Queen Elizabeth II 1953–1971 Thrift until 1952 Crowned portcullis with chains 21.0–21.8 mm 2.5 mm 6.8 g Nickel-brass Plain (12-sided) 1937 1971
Sixpence (6d) King George VI 1946–1952
Queen Elizabeth II 1953–1971 Crowned royal cypher until 1952 Floral design – Four Home Nations 19.41 mm 2.83 g Cupronickel Milled 1947 1980
Shilling (1/-) Crowned lion on Tudor crown or Crowned lion standing on Scottish crown until 1952 Coat of Arms of England or Scotland 23.60 mm 1.7 mm 5.66 g 1990
Florin (2/-) Crowned rose flanked by a thistle and shamrock until 1952 Rose encircled by thistle, leek and shamrock 28.5 mm 1.85 mm 11.31 g 1992
Half crown (2/6) Royal Shield flanked by crowned royal cypher until 1952 Crowned Royal Shield 32.31 mm 14.14 g 1969
Crown (5/-) Various commemorative designs 38 mm 2.89 mm 28.28 g 1951 Present
The farthing (1⁄4d) had been demonetised on 1 January 1961, whilst the crown (5/-) was issued periodically as a commemorative coin but rarely found in circulation.
The crown, half crown, florin, shilling, and sixpence were cupronickel coins (in historical times silver or silver alloy); the penny, halfpenny, and farthing were bronze; and the threepence was a twelve-sided nickel-brass coin (historically it was a small silver coin).
Some of the pre-decimalisation coins with exact decimal equivalent values continued in use after 1971 alongside the new coins, albeit with new names (the shilling became equivalent to the 5p coin, with the florin equating to 10p), and the others were withdrawn almost immediately. The use of florins and shillings as legal tender in this way ended in 1991 and 1993 when the 5p and 10p coins were replaced with smaller versions. Indeed, while pre-decimalisation shillings were used as 5p coins, for a while after decimalisation many people continued to call the new 5p coin a shilling, since it remained 1⁄20 of a pound, but was now counted as 5p (five new pence) instead of 12d (twelve old pennies). The pre-decimalisation sixpence, also known as a sixpenny bit or sixpenny piece, was equivalent to 2+1⁄2p, but was demonetised in 1980.
Pre-decimal coins of the pound sterling Five pounds
Double sovereign
Sovereign
Crown
Half crown
Florin
Shilling
Sixpence
Groat
Threepence
Penny
Halfpenny
Farthing
Half farthing
Third farthing
Quarter farthing
Five pounds 1 2+1⁄2 5 20 40 50 100 200 300 400 1200 2400 4800 9600 14400 19200
Double sovereign 2⁄5 1 2 8 16 20 40 80 120 160 480 960 1920 3840 5760 7680
Sovereign 1⁄5 1⁄2 1 4 8 10 20 40 60 80 240 480 960 1920 2880 3840
Crown 1⁄20 1⁄8 1⁄4 1 2 2+1⁄2 5 10 15 20 60 120 240 480 720 960
Half crown 1⁄40 1⁄16 1⁄8 1⁄2 1 1+1⁄4 2+1⁄2 5 7+1⁄2 10 30 60 120 240 360 480
Florin 1⁄50 1⁄20 1⁄10 2⁄5 4⁄5 1 2 4 6 8 24 48 96 192 288 384
Shilling 1⁄100 1⁄40 1⁄20 1⁄5 2⁄5 1⁄2 1 2 3 4 12 24 48 96 144 192
Sixpence 1⁄200 1⁄80 1⁄40 1⁄10 1⁄5 1⁄4 1⁄2 1 1+1⁄2 2 6 12 24 48 72 96
Groat 1⁄300 1⁄120 1⁄60 1⁄15 2⁄15 1⁄6 1⁄3 2⁄3 1 1+1⁄3 4 8 16 32 48 64
Threepence 1⁄400 1⁄160 1⁄80 1⁄20 1⁄10 1⁄8 1⁄4 1⁄2 3⁄4 1 3 6 12 24 36 48
Penny 1⁄1200 1⁄480 1⁄240 1⁄60 1⁄30 1⁄24 1⁄12 1⁄6 1⁄4 1⁄3 1 2 4 8 12 16
Halfpenny 1⁄2400 1⁄960 1⁄480 1⁄120 1⁄60 1⁄48 1⁄24 1⁄12 1⁄8 1⁄6 1⁄2 1 2 4 6 8
Farthing 1⁄4800 1⁄1920 1⁄960 1⁄240 1⁄120 1⁄96 1⁄48 1⁄24 1⁄16 1⁄12 1⁄4 1⁄2 1 2 3 4
Half farthing 1⁄9600 1⁄3840 1⁄1920 1⁄480 1⁄240 1⁄192 1⁄96 1⁄48 1⁄36 1⁄24 1⁄8 1⁄4 1⁄2 1 1+1⁄2 2
Third farthing 1⁄14400 1⁄5760 1⁄2880 1⁄720 1⁄360 1⁄288 1⁄144 1⁄72 1⁄48 1⁄36 1⁄12 1⁄6 1⁄3 2⁄3 1 1+1⁄3
Quarter farthing 1⁄19200 1⁄7680 1⁄3840 1⁄960 1⁄480 1⁄384 1⁄192 1⁄96 1⁄72 1⁄48 1⁄16 1⁄8 1⁄4 1⁄2 3⁄4 1
Visualisation of some British currency terms before decimalisation
Slang and everyday usage
Some pre-decimalisation coins or denominations became commonly known by colloquial and slang terms, perhaps the most well known being bob for a shilling, and quid for a pound. A farthing was a mag, a silver threepence was a joey and the later nickel-brass threepence was called a threepenny bit (/ˈθrʌpni/ or /ˈθrɛpni/ bit, i.e. thrup'ny or threp'ny bit – the apostrophe was pronounced on a scale from full "e" down to complete omission); a sixpence was a tanner, the two-shilling coin or florin was a two-bob bit. Bob is still used in phrases such as "earn/worth a bob or two",[41][better source needed] and "bob‐a‐job week". The two shillings and sixpence coin or half-crown was a half-dollar, also sometimes referred to as two and a kick. A value of two pence was universally pronounced /ˈtʌpəns/ tuppence, a usage which is still heard today, especially among older people. The unaccented suffix "-pence", pronounced /pəns/, was similarly appended to the other numbers up to twelve; thus "fourpence", "sixpence-three-farthings", "twelvepence-ha'penny", but "eighteen pence" would usually be said "one-and-six".
Quid remains as popular slang for one or more pounds to this day in Britain in the form "a quid" and then "two quid", and so on. Similarly, in some parts of the country, bob continued to represent one-twentieth of a pound, that is five new pence, and two bob is 10p.[42]
The introduction of decimal currency caused a new casual usage to emerge, where any value in pence is spoken using the suffix pee: e.g. "twenty-three pee" or, in the early years, "two-and-a-half pee" rather than the previous "tuppence-ha'penny". Amounts over a pound are normally spoken thus: "five pounds forty". A value with less than ten pence over the pound is sometimes spoken like this: "one pound and a penny", "three pounds and fourpence". The slang term "bit" has almost disappeared from use completely, although in Scotland a fifty pence is sometimes referred to as a "ten bob bit". Decimal denomination coins are generally described using the terms piece or coin, for example, "a fifty-pee piece", a "ten-pence coin".
Monarch's profile
All coins since the 17th century have featured a profile of the current monarch's head. The direction in which they face changes with each successive monarch, a pattern that began with the Stuarts, as shown in the table below:
Facing left Facing right
Cromwell 1653–1658[43] Broad 1656 Oliver Cromwell coin.jpg Charles II 1660–1685 Guinea 641642.jpg
James II 1685–1688 William and Mary 1689–1694
William III 1694–1702 William and Mary Guinea
Anne 1702–1714 Half-crown of Anne George I 1714–1727 George I Quarter Guinea
George II 1727–1760 George II Guinea 722655 George III 1760–1820 Sovereign George III 1817
George IV 1820–1830 Sovereign George IV 1828 651295 William IV 1830–1837 William4coin.jpg
Victoria 1837–1901 Sovereign Victoria 1842 662015 Edward VII 1901–1910 Matte proof 5 pound Edwards VII
George V 1910–1936 1 penny 1927 george 5.
Edward VIII 1936 EdwardVIII coin.jpg (uncirculated issues)
George VI 1936–1952 1937 George VI penny Elizabeth II 1952–present 1953 half crown obverse
For the Tudors and pre-Restoration Stuarts, both left- and right-facing portrait images were minted within the reign of a single monarch (left-facing images were more common). In the Middle Ages, portrait images tended to be full face.
There was a small quirk in this alternating pattern when Edward VIII became king in January 1936 and was portrayed facing left, the same as his predecessor George V. This was because Edward thought his left side to be better than his right.[44] However, Edward VIII abdicated in December 1936 and his coins were never put into general circulation. When George VI came to the throne, he had his coins struck with him facing the left, as if Edward VIII's coins had faced right (as they should have done according to tradition). Thus, in a timeline of circulating British coins, George V and VI's coins both feature left-facing portraits, although they follow directly chronologically.
Regal titles
A 1937 George VI penny
From a very early date, British coins have been inscribed with the name of the ruler of the kingdom in which they were produced, and a longer or shorter title, always in Latin; among the earliest distinctive English coins are the silver pennies of Offa of Mercia, which were inscribed with the legend OFFA REX "King Offa". As the legends became longer, words in the inscriptions were often abbreviated so that they could fit on the coin; identical legends have often been abbreviated in different ways depending upon the size and decoration of the coin. Inscriptions which go around the edge of the coin generally have started at the center of the top edge and proceeded in a clockwise direction. A very lengthy legend would be continued on the reverse side of the coin. All but Edward III and both Elizabeths use Latinised names (which would have been EDWARDUS and ELIZABETHA respectively).
Examples of coinage legends Latin text English text Notes
EDWARD DEI GRA REX ANGL Z FRANC D HYB(E) Edward III, by the grace of God King of England and France, Lord of Ireland
EDWARD DEI GRA REX ANGL DNS HYB Z ACQ Edward, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland and Aquitaine Used after the Treaty of Brétigny (1360) when Edward III temporarily gave up his claim to the French throne.
EDWARD DEI G REX ANG Z FRA DNS HYB Z ACT Edward, by the grace of God King of England and France, Lord of Ireland and Aquitaine. Used after Anglo-French relations broke down and Edward III resumed his claim.
HENRICUS VII DEI GRATIA REX ANGLIÆ & FRANCIÆ Henry VII by the Grace of God, King of England and France France had been claimed by the English continuously since 1369.
HENRICUS VIII DEI GRATIA REX ANGLIÆ & FRANCIÆ Henry VIII by the Grace of God, King of England and France The Arabic numeral 8 was also used instead of the Roman VIII.
HENRICUS VIII DEI GRATIA ANGLIÆ FRANCIÆ & HIBERNIÆ REX Henry VIII by the Grace of God, Of England, France and Ireland, King Used after Henry VIII made Ireland a kingdom in 1541. The Arabic numeral 8 was also used instead of the Roman VIII.
PHILIPPUS ET MARIA DEI GRATIA REX & REGINA Philip and Mary by the Grace of God, King and Queen The names of the realms were omitted from the coin for reasons of space.
ELIZABETH DEI GRATIA ANGLIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REGINA Elizabeth, by the Grace of God, of England, France, and Ireland, Queen
IACOBUS DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King James, King of Scotland, by succeeding to the English throne united the two kingdoms in his person; he dubbed the combination of the two kingdoms "Great Britain" (the name of the whole island) though they remained legislatively distinct for more than a century afterwards.
CAROLUS DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX Charles, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King
OLIVARIUS DEI GRATIA REIPUBLICÆ ANGLIÆ SCOTIÆ HIBERNIÆ & CETERORUM PROTECTOR Oliver, by the Grace of God, of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, Ireland etc., Protector Cromwell ruled as a monarch but did not claim the title of king.
CAROLUS II DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX Charles II, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King
IACOBUS II DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX James II, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King
GULIELMUS ET MARIA DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX ET REGINA William and Mary by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King and Queen The spouses William and Mary ruled jointly.
GULIELMUS III DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX William III by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King William continued to rule alone after his wife's death.
ANNA DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REGINA Anne by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Queen
GEORGIUS DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX FIDEI DEFENSOR BRUNSVICENSIS ET LUNEBURGENSIS DUX SACRI ROMANI IMPERII ARCHITHESAURARIUS ET ELECTOR George by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, of Brunswick and Lüneburg Duke, of the Holy Roman Empire Archtreasurer and Elector George I added the titles he already possessed as Elector of Hanover. He also added the title "Defender of the Faith", which had been borne by the English kings since Henry VIII, but which had previously only rarely appeared on coins.
GEORGIUS II DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX FIDEI DEFENSOR BRUNSVICENSIS ET LUNEBURGENSIS DUX SACRI ROMANI IMPERII ARCHITHESAURARIUS ET ELECTOR George II by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, of Brunswick and Lüneburg Duke, of the Holy Roman Empire Archtreasurer and Elector
GEORGIUS III DEI GRATIA MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ FRANCIÆ ET HIBERNIÆ REX FIDEI DEFENSOR BRUNSVICENSIS ET LUNEBURGENSIS DUX SACRI ROMANI IMPERII ARCHITHESAURARIUS ET ELECTOR George III by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, of Brunswick and Lüneburg Duke, of the Holy Roman Empire Archtreasurer and Elector
GEORGIUS III DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR George III, by the Grace of God, of the Britains King, Defender of the Faith The Acts of Union united Great Britain and Ireland into a single kingdom, represented on the coinage by the Latin genitive plural Britanniarum ("of the Britains", often abbreviated BRITT). At the same time, the claim to the throne of France was dropped and other titles were omitted from the coinage.
GEORGIUS IIII (IV) DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR George IV, by the Grace of God, of the Britains King, Defender of the Faith The Roman numeral "4" is represented by both IIII and IV in different issues.
GULIELMUS IIII DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR William IV, by the Grace of God, of the Britains King, Defender of the Faith
VICTORIA DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REGINA FIDEI DEFENSATRIX Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the Britains Queen, Defender of the Faith
VICTORIA DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REGINA FIDEI DEFENSATRIX INDIÆ IMPERATRIX Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the Britains Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India Queen Victoria was granted the title "Empress of India" in 1876.
EDWARDUS VII DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM OMNIUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR INDIÆ IMPERATOR Edward VII, by the Grace of God, of all the Britains King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India Edward VII's coins added OMNIUM ("all") after "Britains" to imply a rule over the British overseas colonies as well as the United Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
GEORGIUS V DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM OMNIUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR INDIÆ IMPERATOR George V, by the Grace of God, of all the Britains King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India
GEORGIUS VI DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM OMNIUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR INDIÆ IMPERATOR George VI, by the Grace of God, of all the Britains King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India
GEORGIUS VI DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM OMNIUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR George VI, by the Grace of God, of all the Britains King, Defender of the Faith The title "Emperor of India" was relinquished in 1948, after the independence of India and Pakistan.
ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM OMNIUM REGINA FIDEI DEFENSATRIX Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of all the Britains Queen, Defender of the Faith
ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FIDEI DEFENSATRIX Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith The "of all the Britains" was dropped from the coinage in 1954, and current coins do not name any realm.
Coins in the colonies
Some coins made for circulation in the British colonies are considered part of British coinage because they have no indication of what country it was minted for and they were made in the same style as contemporary coins circulating in the United Kingdom.
A three halfpence (1+1⁄2 pence, 1/160 of a pound) coin was circulated mainly in the West Indies and Ceylon in the starting in 1834. Jamaicans referred to the coin as a "quatty".[45]
The half farthing (1/8 of a penny, 1/1920 of a pound) coin was initially minted in 1828 for use in Ceylon, but was declared legal tender in the United Kingdom in 1842.[46]
The third farthing (1/12 of a penny, 1/2880 of a pound) coin was minted for use in Malta, starting in 1827..[46]
The quarter farthing (1/16 of a penny, 1/3840 of a pound) coin was minted for use in Ceylon starting in 1839.[46]
Mottos
In addition to the title, a Latin or French motto might be included, generally on the reverse side of the coin. These varied between denominations and issues; some were personal to the monarch, others were more general. Some of the mottos were:
POSUI DEUM ADIUTOREM MEUM "I have made God my helper". Coins of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I. Possibly refers to Psalm 52:7, Ecce homo qui non-posuit Deum adjutorem suum "Behold the man who did not make God his helper".
RUTILANS ROSA SINE SPINA "A dazzling rose without a thorn". Coins of Henry VIII and Edward VI. Initially on the unsuccessful and very rare Crown of the Rose of Henry VIII and continued on subsequent small gold coinage into the reign of Edward VI.
POSUIMUS DEUM ADIUTOREM NOSTRUM "We have made God our helper". Coins of Philip and Mary. The same as above, but with a plural subject.
FACIAM EOS IN GENTEM UNAM "I shall make them into one nation". Coins of James I, signifying his desire to unite the English and Scottish nations. Refers to Ezekiel 37:22 in the Vulgate Bible.
CHRISTO AUSPICE REGNO "I reign with Christ as my protector". Coins of Charles I.
EXURGAT DEUS DISSIPENTUR INIMICI "May God rise up, may [his] enemies be scattered". Coins of Charles I, during the Civil War. Refers to Psalm 67:1 in the Vulgate Bible (Psalm 68 in English Bible numbering).
PAX QUÆRITUR BELLO "Peace is sought by war". Coins of the Protectorate; personal motto of Oliver Cromwell.
BRITANNIA "Britain". Reign of Charles II to George III. Found on pennies and smaller denominations.
HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE. "Shamed be he who thinks ill of it." Sovereigns of George III. Motto of the Order of the Garter.
DECUS ET TUTAMEN. "A decoration and protection." Some pound coins of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and some crown coins including some of Victoria and George V. Refers to the inscribed edge as a protection against the clipping of precious metal, as well as being a complimentary reference to the monarch and the monarchy.
Minting errors reaching circulation
Coins with errors in the minting process that reach circulation are often seen as valuable items by coin collectors.
In 1983, the Royal Mint mistakenly produced some two pence pieces with the old wording "New Pence" on the reverse (tails) side, when the design had been changed from 1982 to "Two Pence".
In 2016, a batch of double-dated £1 coins was released into circulation. These coins had the main date on the obverse stating '2017', but the micro-engraving having '2016' on it. it is not known how many exist and are in circulation, but the amount is fewer than half a million.
In June 2009, the Royal Mint estimated that between 50,000 and 200,000 dateless 20 pence coins had entered circulation, the first undated British coin to enter circulation in more than 300 years. It resulted from the accidental combination of old and new face tooling in a production batch, creating what is known as a mule, following the 2008 redesign which moved the date from the reverse (tails) to the obverse (heads) side.[47]
See also
Banknotes of the pound sterling
List of British bank notes and coins
Mark (money)
Non-decimal currency
One hundred pounds (British coin)
Roman currency
Twenty pounds (British coin)
References
"New 12-sided pound coin to enter circulation in March". BBC News. 1 January 2017. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
"How can I dispose of commemorative crowns? And why do some have a higher face value than others?". The Royal Mint Museum. Archived from the original on 13 April 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
"Mintage Figures". The Royal Mint. Archived from the original on 17 May 2013.
"Coins – Collector Gold & Silver Coins & Limited Edition Gifts". The Royal Mint. Archived from the original on 10 February 2005.
"Llantrisant". Royal Mint. 2012. Archived from the original on 16 November 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2012. "In April 1967 it was announced that the new Royal Mint would be built at Llantrisant in South Wales."
"National Museums of Scotland – Balance and scales (detail)". Archived from the original on 9 April 2009.
The 1696 Recoinage (1696–1699) Archived 14 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Richard Kleer, University of Regina, The Literary Encyclopedia
Newton and the Counterfeiter, Thomas Levenson, Faber & Faber, ISBN 978-0-571-22992-5
The Scottish Mint after the recoinage, 1709–1836 Archived 22 August 2009 at Wikiwix, Athol L Murray, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1999
Sir Isaac Newton and the Scottish recoinage, 1707–10 Archived 21 August 2009 at Wikiwix, Athol L Murray, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1997
On the Value of Gold and Silver in European Currencies and the Consequences on the World-wide Gold- and Silver-Trade Archived 28 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Sir Isaac Newton, 21 September 1717.
By The King, A Proclamation Declaring the Rates at which Gold shall be current in Payments reproduced in the numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, Vol V., April 1842 – January 1843
McVeigh, Karen (12 May 2006). "Why coppers are rising in value". The Times. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
Corporate FAQs Archived 11 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
The Fifth Definitive Coinage Portrait First Edition Archived 3 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine Royal Mint (www.royalmint.com). Retrieved on 2015-03-03.
"Royal Mint unveils coin designs". BBC News. 2 April 2008. Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
New Coin Designs FAQ Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Royal Mint
"Birmingham MP's crusade to bring back Britannia on coins" Archived 8 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Birmingham Post, 9 February 2009
"Your Change is Changing". Bulletin. Royal Mint (107): 6. 2008. "[Stephen Raw said] "We couldn't have had post-modern designs like this 50 years ago – the public simply wouldn't have accepted them"
"Wales short-changed by new coin designs" Archived 13 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Daily Post (North Wales), 3 April 2008
Ironside, Virginia (6 April 2008). "I hate the new coins. My father must be turning in his grave". The Independent. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
"Make Way for Britain's New Coin Designs". Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
"Cupro Nickel Replacement Programme". Archived from the original on 10 July 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
"Treasury 'should foot coin change bill'". BBC News. 5 November 2011. Archived from the original on 5 November 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
Lacey, Anna (22 June 2013). "A bad penny? New coins and nickel allergy". BBC Health Check. Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
"Royal Mint starts new £1 coin production". TheGuardian.com. 31 March 2016.
"£1 Coin | the Royal Mint".
"£2 Coin Designs and Specifications | the Royal Mint".
"The Great British Coin Hunt 2018 – Quintessentially British a to Z Sterling Silver Coins".
"Legal Tender Guidelines | the Royal Mint".
"How the Royal Mint is Attempting to Redefine "Legal Tender" for Collector Coins". 27 March 2016.
Barker, Simon (14 January 2020). "Are £5 Coins Legal Tender?". CostlyCoins.
"The Queen's Beasts are brought to life in a new bullion coin range", Royal Mint Blog, 31 March 2016, archived from the original on 2 April 2016, retrieved 1 April 2016
"Foreign and Commonwealth Office country profiles: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands". fco.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
"Foreign and Commonwealth Office country profiles: British Antarctic Territory". fco.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
"Foreign and Commonwealth Office country profiles: Tristan da Cunha". fco.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 30 June 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
"Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands". Archived from the original on 12 November 2002.
The British Antarctic Territory Currency Archived 19 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Antarctic Heritage Trust
Quine, W. V. (1987). Quiddities: An Intermittently Philosophical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. p. 126. ISBN 9780674042438.
"Ask Oxford". Archived from the original on 29 March 2007.
""bob or two" – Google Search".
David Jones (7 April 2008). "Two Bob Trouble". Blogspot.
Coins with Cromwell's image were first minted in 1656 by Pierre Blondeau.
"Rare Edward VIII coin showing profile of monarch's 'better side' goes on display". BT.com. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
Chalmers, Robert (1893). A History of Currency in the British Colonies. London, UK: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. p. 110. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
"Fractional Farthings".
Bingham, John (29 June 2009). "Mix-up at Royal Mint creates dateless 20p pieces worth £50". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 July 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
External links
Clayton, Tony: Coins of England and Great Britain
Chard, Juliana: Common Names of British Coin Denominations
UK Coin Designs and Specifications from the Royal Mint's website
Coin Designs — Royal Mint competition designs
United Kingdom: Coins Issued and Used – list of all UK coins, with photos and descriptions
Old Money Converter – converts £sd to decimal currency
Old Money Converter 2 – converts decimal currency to £sd
Sterling coinage
Decimal
1/2p 1p 2p 5p 10p 20p 50p £1 £2
Pre-decimal
Quarter farthing (1/16d) Third farthing (1/12d) Half farthing (1/8d) Farthing (1/4d) Halfpenny (1/2d) Penny (1d) Three halfpence (1+1/2d) Twopence (2d) Threepence (3d) Fourpence (4d) Sixpence (6d) Shilling (1/–) Fifteen pence (1/3d) Florin (2/–) Half crown (2/6d) Double florin (4/–) Crown (5/–) Quarter guinea (5/3d) Third guinea (7/–) Half sovereign (10/–) Half guinea (10/6d) Sovereign (£1) Guinea (£1/1/–) Double sovereign (£2) Two guineas (£2/2/–) Five pounds (£5) Five guineas (£5/5/–)
Non-circulating
Commemorative
25p £5 £10 £20 £25 £50 £100 £200 £500 £1000 Maundy money
Bullion
Britannia Quarter sovereign Half sovereign Sovereign Double sovereign Quintuple sovereign Lunar The Queen's Beasts Landmarks of Britain
See also
Sterling Sterling banknotes List of British banknotes and coins List of British currencies Jubilee coinage Old Head coinage Scottish coinage Coins of Ireland List of people on coins of the United Kingdom
Types of British coinage
Falkland Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey St Helena and Ascension United Kingdom
Economy of the United Kingdom
Companies
Co-operatives Employee-owned companies FTSE 100 Index FTSE 250 Index FTSE Fledgling Index FTSE SmallCap Index Government-owned companies
currency,
governance,
regulation
Bank of England
Governor of the Bank of England Budget Company law Competition and Markets Authority Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy Financial Conduct Authority Gilts HM Revenue & Customs HM Treasury
Chancellor of the Exchequer Debt Management Office Monetary Policy Committee Office for Budget Responsibility Pound sterling
Banknotes Coinage Taxation UK Statistics Authority UK Trade & Investment
History
Chronological
1659–1849 Navigation Acts Agricultural Revolution Industrial Revolution Financial Revolution Panic of 1796–97 1815–46 Corn Laws New Imperialism 1830s–1945 Second Industrial Revolution 1860s–1914 1873–79 Long Depression 1926 general strike 1929–39 Great Depression 1948–52 Marshall Plan 1974 Three-Day Week 1979 Winter of Discontent 1986 Big Bang 1992 Black Wednesday Late-2000s recession 2008 bank rescue package 2009 bank rescue package 2020
Events
January–March
January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher.
January 20
The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
British emigrant ship Kapunda sinks after a collision off the coast of Brazil, killing 303 with only 16 survivors.
January 21
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is formed in the United States.
Brisbane receives a one-day rainfall of 465 millimetres (18.3 in) (a record for any Australian capital city).
January 24 – Battle of Dogali: Abyssinian troops defeat the Italians.
January 28
In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the largest snowflakes on record are reported. They are 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick.
Construction work begins on the foundations of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
February 2 – The first Groundhog Day is observed in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
February 4 – The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, passed by the 49th United States Congress, is signed into law by President Grover Cleveland.
February 5 – The Giuseppe Verdi opera Otello premieres at La Scala, Milan.
February 8 – The Dawes Act, or the General Allotment Act, is enacted in the United States.
February 23 – The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000 along the coast of the Mediterranean.
February 26 – At the Sydney Cricket Ground, George Lohmann becomes the first bowler to take eight wickets, in a Test innings.
March 3 – Anne Sullivan begins teaching Helen Keller.
March 3: Helen Keller and Sullivan.
March 7 – North Carolina State University is established, as North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.
March 13 – Chester Greenwood patents earmuffs in the United States.
April–June
April 1 – The final of the first All-Ireland Hurling Championship is held.
April 4 – Argonia, Kansas, elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
April 10 (Easter Sunday) – The Catholic University of America is founded in Washington, D.C.
April 20 – Occidental College is founded in Los Angeles, California.
April 21 – Schnaebele incident: A French/German border incident nearly leads to war between the two countries.
May 3 – An earthquake hits Sonora, Mexico.
May 9 – Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show opens in London.
May 14 – The cornerstone of the new Stanford University, in northern California, is laid (the college opens in 1891).
May 25 – The Hells Canyon massacre begins: 34 Chinese gold miners are ambushed and murdered in Hells Canyon, Oregon, United States.
June 8 – Herman Hollerith receives a U.S. patent for his punched card calculator.
June 18 – The Reinsurance Treaty is closed between Germany and Russia.
June 21
The British Empire celebrates Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, marking the 50th year of her reign.
Zululand becomes a British colony.
June 23 – The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating that nation's first national park, Banff National Park.
June 23: Banff National Park
June 28 – Minot, North Dakota is incorporated as a city.
June 29 – The United Retail Federation is established in Brisbane, Australia.
July–September
July – James Blyth operates the first working wind turbine at Marykirk, Scotland.
July 1 – Construction of the iron structure of the Eiffel Tower starts in Paris, France.
July 6 – King Kalākaua of Hawai'i is forced by anti-monarchists to sign the 'Bayonet Constitution', stripping the Hawaiian monarchy of much of its authority, as well as disenfranchising most native Hawaiians, all Asians and the poor.
July 12 – Odense Boldklub, the Danish football team, is founded as the Odense Cricket Club.
July 19 – Dorr Eugene Felt receives the first U.S. patent for his comptometer.
July 26
L. L. Zamenhof publishes "Unua Libro" (Dr. Esperanto's International Language), the first description of Esperanto, the constructed international auxiliary language.
Blackpool F.C. is created in England, U.K.
August – The earliest constituent of the U.S. National Institutes of Health is established at the Marine Hospital, Staten Island, as the Laboratory of Hygiene.
August 8 – Antonio Guzmán Blanco ends his term as President of Venezuela.
August 13 – Hibernian F.C. of Scotland defeats Preston North End F.C. of England to win the 'Championship of the World', after the two teams win the Association football Cup competitions in their respective countries.
September 5 – The Theatre Royal, Exeter, England, burns down, killing 186 people.
September 28 – The 1887 Yellow River flood begins in China, killing 900,000 to 2,000,000 people.
July 26: Esperanto
October–December
October 1 – The British Empire takes over Balochistan.
October 3 – Florida A&M University opens its doors in Tallahassee, Florida.
October 12 – Yamaha Corporation, the global musical instrument and audiovisual brand, is founded as Yamaha Organ Manufacturing in Hamamatsu, Japan.
November
Results of the Michelson–Morley experiment are published, indicating that the speed of light is independent of motion.
Arthur Conan Doyle's detective character Sherlock Holmes makes his first appearance, in the novel A Study in Scarlet, published in Beeton's Christmas Annual.
November 3 – The Coimbra Academic Association, the students' union of the University of Coimbra in Portugal, is founded.
November 6 – The Association football club Celtic F.C. is formed in Glasgow, Scotland, by Irish Marist Brother Walfrid, to help alleviate poverty in the city's East End by raising money for his charity, the 'Poor Children's Dinner Table'.
November 8 – Emile Berliner is granted a U.S. patent for the Berliner Gramophone.
November 10 – Louis Lingg, sentenced to be hanged for his alleged role in the Haymarket affair (a bombing in Chicago on May 4, 1886), kills himself by dynamite.
November 11 – August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer and George Engel are hanged for inciting riot and murder in the Haymarket affair.
November 13 – Bloody Sunday: Police in London clash with radical and Irish nationalist protesters.
December 5 – The International Bureau of Intellectual Property is established.
December 25 – Glenfiddich single malt Scotch whisky is first produced.
Date unknown
Laos and Cambodia are added to French Indochina.
Heinrich Hertz discovers the photoelectric effect on the production and reception of electromagnetic (EM) waves (radio); this is an important step towards the understanding of the quantum nature of light.
Franz König publishes "Über freie Körper in den Gelenken" in the medical journal Deutsche Zeitschrift für Chirurgie, describing (and naming) the disease Osteochondritis dissecans for the first time.
Teachers College, later part of Columbia University, is founded.
The first English-language edition of Friedrich Engels' 1844 study of The Condition of the Working Class in England, translated by Florence Kelley, is published in New York City.
Publication in Barcelona of Enrique Gaspar's El anacronópete, the first work of fiction to feature a time machine.
Publication begins of Futabatei Shimei's The Drifting Cloud (Ukigumo), the first modern novel in Japan.
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is founded.
Nagase Shoten (長瀬商店), predecessor of Japanese cosmetics and toiletry brand Kao Corporation, is founded in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan.[citation needed]
Tokyo Fire Insurance, predecessor of Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance, is founded.
Global construction and real estate development company Skanska is founded in Malmö, Sweden.
American financial services company A. G. Edwards is founded by General Albert Gallatin Edwards in St. Louis, Missouri.
Heyl & Patterson Inc., a pioneer in coal unloading equipment, is founded by Edmund W. Heyl and William J. Patterson in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The first battery rail car is used on the Royal Bavarian State Railways.
Births
January–February
Miklós Kállay
Arthur Rubinstein
Edelmiro Julián Farrell
Joseph Bech
Chico Marx
January 1
Wilhelm Canaris, head of German military intelligence in World War II (d. 1945)
Max Ritter von Müller, German World War I fighter ace (d. 1918)
January 3 – August Macke, German painter (d. 1914)[23]
January 10 – Robinson Jeffers, American poet (d. 1962)
January 13 – Jorge Chávez, pioneer Peruvian aviator (d. 1910)
January 17 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst, philologist (d. 1975)
January 19 – Alexander Woollcott, American intellectual (d. 1943)
January 21 – Maude Davis, oldest person in the world (d. 2002)
January 22 – Elmer Fowler Stone, American aviator, first United States Coast Guard aviator (d. 1936)
January 23
Miklós Kállay, 34th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1967)[24]
Dorothy Payne Whitney, American-born philanthropist, social activist (d. 1968)
January 28 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-born pianist and conductor (d. 1982)[25]
February 3 – Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (d. 1914)[26]
February 5 – Corneliu Dragalina, Romanian general (d. 1949)
February 6 – Josef Frings, Archbishop of Cologne (d. 1978)
February 10 – John Franklin Enders, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)[27]
February 11 – Ernst Hanfstaengl, German-born pianist, U.S. politician (d. 1975)
February 12 – Edelmiro Julián Farrell, Argentine general, 28th President of Argentina (d. 1980)
February 17
Joseph Bech, Luxembourgish politician, 2-time Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1975)[28]
Leevi Madetoja, Finnish composer (d. 1947)[29]
February 20 – Vincent Massey, Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)[30]
February 21 – Korechika Anami, Japanese general (d. 1945)
March–April
Julian Huxley
Marc Chagall
Gustav Ludwig Hertz
Erwin Schrödinger
Giovanni Gronchi
March 4 – Violet MacMillan, American Broadway theatre actress (d. 1953)
March 5
Harry Turner, American professional football player (d. 1914)
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (d. 1959)[31]
March 11 – Raoul Walsh, American film director (d. 1980)
March 13 – Alexander Vandegrift, American general (d. 1973)
March 14
Sylvia Beach, American publisher in Paris (d. 1952)[32]
Charles Reisner, American silent actor, film director (d. 1962)
March 18 – Aurel Aldea, Romanian general and politician (d. 1949)
March 21 – Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal (d. 1908)
March 22 – Chico Marx, American comedian and actor (d. 1961)
March 23
Juan Gris, Spanish-born painter, graphic artist (d. 1927)[33]
Prince Felix Yusupov, Russian assassin of Rasputin (d. 1967)
March 24 – Roscoe Arbuckle, American actor, comedian, film director, and screenwriter (d. 1933)
March 25 – Chūichi Nagumo, Japanese admiral (d. 1944)
March 25 – Padre Pio, Italian Franciscan Capuchin, mystic and Catholic saint (d. 1968)
April 2 – Louise Schroeder, German politician (d. 1957)
April 3 – Nishizō Tsukahara, Japanese admiral (d. 1966)
April 10 – Bernardo Houssay, Argentine physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
April 12 – Harold Lockwood, American film actor (d.1918)
April 15
Mike Brady, American golfer (d. 1972)
Felix Pipes, Austrian tennis player (d. 1983)[34]
April 22 – Harald Bohr, Danish mathematician and footballer (d. 1951)[35]
April 26 – Kojo Tovalou Houénou, prominent African critic of the French colonial empire in Africa (d. 1936)
May– June
Saint-John Perse
May 2
Vernon Castle, British dancer (d. 1918)
Eddie Collins, American baseball player (d. 1951)
May 5 – Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1972)
May 11 – Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (d. 1951)
May 15 – John H. Hoover, American admiral (d. 1970)
May 22 – Jim Thorpe, American athlete (d. 1953)
May 23 – C. R. M. F. Cruttwell, English historian (d. 1941)[36]
May 25 – Pio of Pietrelcina, Italian saint (d. 1968)
May 26 – Paul Lukas, Hungarian-born actor (d. 1971)
May 31 – Saint-John Perse, French diplomat, writer and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)[37]
June 3 – Carlo Michelstaedter, Italian philosopher (d. 1910)
June 4 – Tom Longboat, Canadian distance runner (d. 1949)
June 5 – Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist (d. 1948)
June 9 – Emilio Mola, Spanish Nationalist commander (d. 1937)
June 13 – André François-Poncet, French politician, diplomat (d. 1978)
June 22
Julian Huxley, British biologist (d. 1975)
Santiago Amat, Spanish sailor (d. 1982)
June 26 – Ganna Walska, Polish opera singer (d. 1984)
July– August
July 1
Maria Isidia da Conceição, Brazilian supercentenarian
Morton Deyo, American admiral (d. 1973)
July 3 – Elith Pio, Danish actor (d. 1983)
July 6 – Annette Kellermann, Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville star, film actress, writer and business owner (d. 1975)
July 7 – Marc Chagall, Russian-born painter (d. 1985)[38]
July 9 – Samuel Eliot Morison, American historian (d. 1976)
July 11 – Nicolae Păiș, Romanian admiral (d. 1952)
July 14 – Curtis Shake, American jurist (d. 1978)
July 16 – Shoeless Joe Jackson, American baseball player (d. 1951)
July 18 – Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian politician, traitor (d. 1945)
July 21 – Luis A. Eguiguren, Peruvian historian and politician (d. 1967)
July 22 – Gustav Ludwig Hertz, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
July 28 – Marcel Duchamp, French-born artist (d. 1968)[39]
July 29
Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-born composer (d. 1951)
Mamoru Shigemitsu, Japanese diplomat and politician (d. 1957)
July 31 – Mitsuru Ushijima, Japanese general (d. 1945)
August 3
Rupert Brooke, British war poet (d. 1915)[40]
August Wesley, Finnish journalist, trade unionist, and revolutionary (d. ?)[41]
August 4 – Peter Bocage, American jazz musician (d. 1967)
August 6 – Oliver Wallace, English-born film composer (d. 1963)
August 12 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
August 13 – Julius Freed, American inventor, banker (d. 1952)
August 17
Emperor Charles I of Austria (d. 1922)
Marcus Garvey, African American publisher, entrepreneur and Pan Africanist (d. 1940)[42]
August 22 – Walter Citrine, 1st Baron Citrine, British trade unionist (d. 1983)
August 24 – Harry Hooper, American baseball player (d. 1974)
August 27 – Julia Sanderson, American actress (d. 1975)
September–October
Avery Brundage
Le Corbusier
Chiang Kai-shek
September 1 – Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (d. 1961)[43]
September 3 – Frank Christian, American jazz musician (d. 1973)
September 5 – Irene Fenwick, American actress (d. 1936)
September 8 – Jacob L. Devers, American general (d. 1979)
September 9 – Alf Landon, American Republican politician, presidential candidate (d. 1987)
September 10 – Giovanni Gronchi, 3rd President of Italy (d. 1978)
September 12 – Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli, Azerbaijani statesman, writer and claimed "core author" of novel Ali and Nino (d. in Gulag 1943)
September 13
Lancelot Holland, British admiral (d. 1941)
Leopold Ružička, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
Frank Gray (researcher), Physicist and researcher, known for the Gray code (d. 1969)
September 16 – Nadia Boulanger, French composer and composition teacher (d. 1979)[44]
September 26 – William Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse, British aviator, first airman to receive the Victoria Cross (d. 1915)
September 28 – Avery Brundage, American sports official (d. 1975)[45]
October 2 – Violet Jessop, Argentine-born British RMS Titanic survivor (d. 1971)
October 4 – Charles Alan Pownall, American admiral, 3rd Military Governor of Guam (d. 1975)
October 5 – René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1976)
October 6 – Le Corbusier, Swiss architect (d. 1965)[46]
October 8 – Huntley Gordon, Canadian-born actor (d. 1956)
October 13 – Jozef Tiso, Prime Minister of Slovakia (d. 1947)
October 14 – Ernest Pingoud, Finnish composer (d. 1942)
October 18 – Takashi Sakai, Japanese general (d. 1946)
October 20 – Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, Japanese prince (d. 1981)
October 22 – John Reed, American journalist (d. 1920)[47]
October 23 – Lothar Rendulic, Austrian-born German general (d. 1971)
October 24 – Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Queen Consort of Spain (d. 1969)
October 28 – Herb Byrne, Australian rules footballer (d. 1959)
October 31 – Chiang Kai-shek, 1st President of the Republic of China (d. 1975)
November - December
Bernard Montgomery
Boris Karloff
Erich von Manstein
November 1 – L. S. Lowry, English painter (d. 1976)[48]
November 6 – Walter Johnson, American baseball player (d. 1946)
November 10 – Arnold Zweig, German writer (d. 1968)[49]
November 11
Walther Wever, German general, pre-World War II Luftwaffe commander (d. 1936)
Roland Young, English actor (d. 1953)
November 14 – Amadeo de Souza Cardoso, Portuguese painter (d. 1918)
November 15 – Georgia O'Keeffe, American painter (d. 1986)[50]
November 17 – Bernard Montgomery, British World War II commander (d. 1976)
November 19 – James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
November 23
Boris Karloff, British horror film actor (d. 1969)
Henry Moseley, English physicist (d. 1915)
November 24 – Erich von Manstein, German field marshal (d. 1973)
November 25 – Nikolai Vavilov, Russian and Soviet agronomist, botanist and geneticist (d. 1943)[51]
November 27 – Masaharu Homma, Japanese general (d. 1946)
November 28
Jacobo Palm, Curaçao-born composer (d. 1982)
Ernst Röhm, German Nazi SA leader (d. 1934)
November 30 – Beatrice Kerr, Australian swimmer, diver, and aquatic performer (d. 1971)
December 3 – Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, former Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1990)
December 6 – Lynn Fontanne, British-born actress (d. 1983)
December 12 – Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer (d. 1974)
December 13 – Alvin Cullum York, American World War I hero (d. 1964)
December 16 – Adone Zoli, Italian politician, 35th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1960)
December 22 – Srinivasa Aaiyangar Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (d. 1920)
December 25 – Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (d. 1979)
December 26 – Arthur Percival, British general (d. 1966)