King Charles III appearing on new British banknotes for the first time

King Charles III made its official debut on British money when the Bank of England unveiled its first banknotes featuring the new monarch on Tuesday.

Revised currency bearing the king’s likeness will be put into circulation from mid-2024 to gradually replace that of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Charles became king in September after Queen Elizabeth’s death at the age of 96 after 70 years on the throne.

The new £5, £10, £20 and £50 polymer notes feature a portrait of Charles on the front and a cameo of him in the note’s clear security window, but are otherwise unchanged from their current design.

The reverse of the note also remains unchanged, with portraits of Prime Minister Winston Churchill on the £5 notes, author Jane Austen on the £10 notes, artist JMW Turner on the £20 notes and computer scientist Alan Turing the 50 pound notes.

“This is a significant moment as the King is only the second monarch to feature on our banknotes,” Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said in a statement.

Queen Elizabeth became the first monarch in British history to appear on Bank of England notes in 1960, as opposed to coins, which have long featured images of the country’s rulers.

Britain’s Royal Mint began issuing the first coins bearing the profile of Charles into general circulation on December 8th.

Banknotes bearing Queen Elizabeth are not phased out until they are worn out, so both types of banknotes will be in use for many years to come.

“To minimize the environmental and financial impact of this change, new banknotes will only be printed to replace worn out banknotes and meet an overall increasing demand for banknotes,” the Bank of England added.

There are currently around 4.5 billion individual Bank of England notes in circulation, valued at around £80 billion.

With mail wires