Changing Monarchs, Changing Coins

There has been much talk in the cash industry over the past few weeks, following the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II, about what this means for the countries whose currency – notably coins here – bear her portrait. These include not just the approximately 29 billion circulating coins in the United Kingdom, but also those Commonwealth countries and other territories which feature her image on one or more coins.

Of the 56 members of the Commonwealth, 15 have the British monarch as their head of state. All feature the Queen on their coins (in the case of the eight countries in the Eastern Caribbean, they share a common currency).

In addition to the members of the Commonwealth, there are three crown dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man), along with 15 British Overseas Territories, of which five have their own banknotes and coins (the Falkland Islands, St Helen and Ascension, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Gibraltar).