After seventy years on the throne, we have all become used to seeing the Queen’s image on currency, coins, and stamps.
However, after her passing, they will need to be replaced with images of the incoming king, Charles III.
However, the British currency will not be substituted overnight. It might take years, while new coins and banknotes bearing the King’s image are issued and the previous ones are progressively withdrawn from circulation.
In addition, whereas the Queen’s picture now faces right on coins, the King’s image will now face left. This is owing to a 17th-century custom that alternates the direction subsequent kings face. The Queen’s coins were not introduced until 1953, the year after her accession.
The new coins and banknotes must be designed, struck, or printed. The Royal Mint advisory council must then submit new coin suggestions to the Chancellor and secure royal approval. The selected designs are subsequently accepted by the Chancellor and finally by the King.
Stamps also include a picture of the Queen, and new stamps bearing the face of the King will need to be produced when the present ones are progressively phased away. Charles may have posed for such sculptures or portraits previously, and he will be required to approve the designs once more.
Royal Mail postboxes holding the Queen’s ER cypher (for ‘Elizabeth Regina’, the Latin for queen) are unlikely to be removed; in fact, several postboxes displaying the cypher of the Queen’s father King George VI may still be seen today. However, new mailboxes may have the new King’s symbol.
And in criminal court proceedings, the R denoting the Crown now stands for Rex instead of Regina. In addition, barristers and lawyers chosen by the king will have their titles changed from Queen’s Counsel (QC) to King’s Counsel (KC).
In the meanwhile, the lyrics of the National Anthem are now “God save our gracious King.”
Police and military uniforms with the Queen’s cypher are anticipated to be replaced with the new King’s cypher – the monogram imprinted on royal and government papers – over time. The ERII of the Queen is shown on traditional police helmets.
At some time, passports will be issued in the new King’s name and their wording will be altered. As with HM Armed Forces and HM Prison Service, Her Majesty’s Passport Office will become His Majesty’s Passport Office.
The signature of Charles will also change. Previously, it was just ‘Charles,’ but now it will be followed by the letter R for Rex. He will also need a new personal flag as King.
In 1960, the Queen chose a personal flag consisting of a gold E with the royal crown encircled by a chaplet of roses on a blue background, which was to be flown on any building, ship, automobile, or aircraft in which she resided or travelled. It was often used when she toured Commonwealth nations. The Royal Standard symbolises the Sovereign and the United Kingdom, while the Queen’s personal flag was exclusive to her.
The royal coat of arms, which was introduced at the beginning of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1837, will stay unchanged. Similar to when the Queen became king, it is expected that the College of Arms would issue new artwork for use by public sector groups like as the civil service and the armed forces early in Charles’ reign.
The “very light rebranding” will be difficult to detect, but it represents the chance to replace decades-old photos with fresh, differently-styled ones. When he is made Prince of Wales, a title he does not inherit automatically, the Duke of Cambridge will get a new coat of arms.