Where is Charles’s Crown?
Britain’s King Charles III appears without a crown on his recently released coinage.
Off with his head? Perhaps “off with his crown” would be more appropriate. Coins and bank notes of Great Britain’s King Charles III are now in circulation, but His Majesty’s head is featured barren. The question has been raised regarding his lack of a crown or other regal symbolism on this money.
The press and social media have been using this as fodder, some insisting that if the king doesn’t wear a crown, this should be interpreted as a symbol of the fact that he is not a king and that there is no monarch.
Hopefully, British Royal Mint Director of Collector Services Rebecca Morgan has put this gossip to rest. In 2022, when Charles’ first regal coinage was released, she explained, “It’s quite common for male monarchs not to wear a crown on their coinage. It happened to his father and grandfather when they were on coinage.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is Charles’s late father. Since Philip was the consort to Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’ mother, he was never depicted wearing a crown. Perhaps things would have been different if Philip had been the king of a joint monarchy.
There are 1902 coronation medals of King Edward VII on which his wife Alexandra of Denmark and Edward are depicted jugated, each wearing a crown. Edward is featured without a crown on his circulating coinage. Likewise, there are silver medals marking the 1935 silver jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary, on which each wears a crown. George V does not wear a crown on his circulating British coins.
The 1939 medal marking King George VI and his wife Elizabeth visiting Canada depicts the couple jugate, each being crowned. Once again, George VI’s circulating British coins feature the king without headwear.
On the other hand, the 1972 silver medal by Paul Vincze celebrating the silver wedding anniversary of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip depicts the couple jugate, but only the queen is crowned.
British monarchs have appeared on bank notes since the time of Queen Victoria; however, Elizabeth II was the first British monarch to have her vignette appear on English bank notes. She wears a crown on all such notes, although this isn’t true for all overseas territories whose bank notes feature her. Charles’ new bank notes once again show him without a crown.
Technically, there is no rule regarding when a monarch, English or otherwise, is to be featured crowned or without a crown on that monarch’s money. Alexander III (“the Great”) of Macedon appears on coins wearing a lion’s scalp. His coinage dates from 323 B.C. and beyond. His father’s coins (Philip II of Macedon) depict Philip wearing a laurel wreath.
Perhaps Julius Caesar would have liked to appear wearing a crown on his coinage, but his head is bare on any ancient Roman coins featuring his image struck during his lifetime. The Roman emperors who followed wore laureates and crowns, some of these being symbols identifying the denomination of the coins on which they appear since these coins don’t carry their denomination by numeral or by name.
Emperors and empresses of the Byzantine Empire always appear crowned on their coins. A crowned image continued on early Islamic coins imitating silver dirham coins of the Sasanian Empire until in 696 A.D. Caliph Abd-al-Malik began striking gold dinars and silver dirhams on which religious inscriptions replaced images of people entirely.
Medieval European coins on which a monarch appears commonly depict that individual crowned. A laurel wreath became popular on coins featuring English monarchs through King George IV, but his successor, William IV, preferred his coinage portrait to appear rather windblown, with what was left of his hair standing on end. Queen Victoria followed. Her early coins featured her crownless, and her later coins depicted her as crowned.
King George II appears as a laureate on numerous colonial coins used in his 13 American colonies. Likewise, George Washington appears wearing a laurel on many of the colonial “pieces” dated between 1783 and 1792 on which he is featured. The many versions of a liberty or Phrygian cap appearing on our early coins on which a bust of Liberty appears may be headwear, but no, it isn’t a crown. That “honor” goes to the 1893 Columbian Exposition quarter on which Queen Isabella of Spain appears—crowned.
U.S. coins depict lots of head coverings. Indians wear feathered headdresses. Lady Liberty wears a tiara beaming sunshine on the Peace dollar. Future British coins on which the monarch is featured crowned may have to wait until the Brits coronate their next queen.
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