The 2023 King Charles III Greatest Monarchs Gold One-Eighth Sovereign celebrates some of the greatest ever British monarchs.
It feels momentous to be writing these words… but Britain has a new monarch. This is something that no-one for generations has written. Not for 70 years has this been uttered and it feels remarkable to be able to say that there are new sovereign coins with the portrait of our new sovereign monarch.
King Charles III inherits a very different world to that which his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, did when she stepped into the role in 1952. For a start, the Queen was 25 years old; the King is 74. He has spent over seven decades preparing for his role – a lifetime apprenticeship. The Queen was in many ways still learning about the world during her reign, while Charles has highly formed opinions that he will bring to the role.
While the world debates what sort of monarch he will be, the simple truth is that he will be different to his mother. It’s a different world after all: his accession was announced in an instant on social media, and his accession ceremony was broadcast live to hundreds of millions of households around the globe.
The most important thing for all of us, is that with the accession of our new King Charles III, a thousand years of Britain’s monarchy endures. This new king’s accession is a significant moment in the history of our nation.
The gold one-eighth sovereign in this new series is a special coin indeed. This coin is a tribute to possibly our greatest ever monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. That she is our new king’s predecessor, and more importantly, his mother, makes this coin a poignant reminder of the fact that when a new monarch accedes it is most often because their parent has passed away.
The reverse side of this coin features Queen Elizabeth II who, in 2022, became the first monarch in our history to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee. Designed by Matt Dent, designer of Britain’s circulating one pence to fifty pence coins.
This is the first one-eighth sovereign in King Charles III’s reign, and we believe it will retain a special place in the history of his coinage.
Authorised by Tristan da Cunha and approved by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Buckingham Palace, it is a wonderful tribute – the first sovereign one-eighth sovereign coin to feature a portrait of King Charles III by artist Jody Clark. Jody Clark also designed the Fifth (and final) Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II which appeared on all her British coinage from mid-2015 to last year.