2022 is a historic year in British royal history. Not only have we celebrated The Late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in honour of her 70 years, but we also marked the 125th Anniversary of the Diamond Jubilee of her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria! The reigns of these two great monarchs are often compared, and for good reason: they are our longest reigning monarchs, and the impact of both women on British society, has been profound. Victoria presided over huge industrial change and expansion of the empire; Elizabeth’s reign has taken us into a whole new era of technological supremacy.
Now, in 2022, major commemorations for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee and Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, overlapped!
To celebrate this, a new one-eighth sovereign coin has been produced to commemorate the 60-year jubilee of Queen Victoria’s reign. It’s also worth remembering that no other reigning British monarch, other than Queen Elizabeth II, has reached a Diamond Jubilee. Victoria was just 18 years old when she came to the throne, and 81 years of age when she died, reigning for almost 64 years.
The first one-eighth sovereign ever, with the portrait of Queen Victoria!
The one-eighth sovereign is the most remarkable coin. This is a sovereign value that was never struck during Victoria’s reign, and it is therefore the first coin of its kind ever to feature Queen Victoria! Its design is an adaptation of the celebrated ‘Young Portrait’ of Queen Victoria by William Wyon, which depicts her in her youth. It was of such quality that it was used for almost fifty years, by which time the Queen herself was almost seventy, giving it the distinction of being the longest used royal portrait in British coinage history. The fact that Queen Elizabeth II also appears on the obverse of this coin creates an incredible historical link between our two longest reigning monarchs.