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The 2022 Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrated with Coins
![The 2022 Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrated with Coins](https://www.govmint.com/media/magefan_blog/GM_platinum_Jubilee_featured_image.jpg)
By Louis Golino
On February 2, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II marked the 70th year of her reign. She became the United Kingdom’s longest-reigning monarch in 2015 – overtaking that position from Queen Victoria, who served almost 64 years and became queen as a young woman like Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth is also the world’s longest-reigning living monarch, and in 2 years and 50 days, she will overtake French King Louis XIV as the longest-reigning monarch in history.
Note that, as she said in 1957, she reigns rather than rules because of the changed role of a monarch in a modern democracy, I.e., they do not rule by decree, but she is the head of state for the United Kingdom and 15 Commonwealth nations.
The platinum jubilee is being marked with extensive celebrations in the United Kingdom, including a four-day holiday in June. In celebration, The Royal Mint, which has issued all the United Kingdom coinage struck during her reign, is also releasing one of its most extensive coin programs ever. As a result, collectors can look forward to circulating, commemorative, and bullion coinage, including a set issued in conjunction with Canada’s Royal Canadian Mint. Many other world mints are also marking the 2022 Queen’s platinum jubilee numismatically.
A Brief Overview of Queen Elizabeth II’s Storied Life and Reign
The Queen was born on April 21, 1926, although in a long-standing tradition, her birthday is officially celebrated on June 11 with a royal procession. She was the daughter of the Duke of York, known as Bertie, and the Duchess of York. She is also the great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria and is part of the royal family known as the House of Windsor but is, in fact, a descendant of the Tudor and Stuart monarchies.
In January 1936, the Queen’s grandfather King George V died, and his oldest son became King Edward VII, but soon abdicated so that he could marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson, resulting in Elizabeth’s father becoming King George VI. In 1952, while she traveled in Kenya with her husband, Prince Phillip, her father passed away. An announcement from Buckingham Palace failed to reach her, and Prince Phillip had to tell her after learning the news from a reporter! On February 2, 1952, she was coronated in a lavish ceremony held at Westminster Abbey in London.
![Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II](https://www.govmint.com/media/wysiwyg/queen_elizabeth_II.jpg)
![Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II](https://www.govmint.com/media/wysiwyg/queen_elizabeth_II.jpg)
A Lifetime of Royal Jubilees
George III is believed to have been the first British monarch to celebrate a golden jubilee in 1809. During the American Revolution, he served in this position, making him the monarch who lost the American colonies. Victoria marked her own golden jubilee in 1897, which included the issuance of this silver crown.
In 1977 Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her silver jubilee, marked with a silver jubilee crown that was the first commemorative coin produced by the mint after moving from London in 1975 to Llantrisant. Thirty-seven million of those coins were made. The Silver Jubilee commemorative coin is similar to the platinum jubilee coin that millions of Britons are seeing in their change today.
In 2002 The Queen marked her golden jubilee, in 2012 her diamond jubilee, and in 2017, her sapphire jubilee. Each of those events was marked not just with extensive festivities but also with special coins from The Royal Mint.
Queen Elizabeth II and Numismatics
Queen Elizabeth II has had a profound influence on United Kingdom coinage and its Commonwealth since 1952, primarily in terms of the various royal portraits of her that grace billions of those coins. She has also been the subject of many special coins issued to mark the milestones of her remarkable period as monarch. She has remained steadfastly focused on serving her nation and its people, especially through charitable activity, which is a tradition that Queen Victoria started.
2022 Queens Platinum Jubilee Coin
In 2022, The Royal Mint issued the first-ever 50 pence (seven-sided) copper-nickel coin for a royal event – the platinum jubilee, that features a special obverse design by John Bergdahl. The design shows her on horseback wearing the uniform of the House Guards that is reminiscent of coins issued in 1952 for her coronation, which like the new piece, was personally approved by Her Majesty.
The reverse of this circulating coin features a large number 70 and a special version of the Queen’s cypher designed by Osborne Ross. This coin was also issued in a wide range of collector versions in silver and gold. However, those coins feature the usual Jody Clark effigy on the obverse and the jubilee 70 design on the reverse.
![2022 Queen's Platinum Jubilee 50 Pence Coin](https://www.govmint.com/media/wysiwyg/2022_platinum_jubilee_coin_50_pence.jpg)
![2022 Queen's Platinum Jubilee 50 Pence Coin](https://www.govmint.com/media/wysiwyg/2022_platinum_jubilee_coin_50_pence.jpg)
2022 Queens Platinum Jubilee Coin Designer: John Bergdahl
Bergdahl is a sculptor by trade who has worked for 60 years as a heraldic engraver and antique restorer in the silver industry. He is also one of the United Kingdom’s most experienced coin designers. He previously designed coins, including the 2008 Britannia coin and coins for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympic games held in London and many other commemorative issues, including those marking royal anniversaries and milestones.
He created two different reverse designs for platinum jubilee collector coins paired with his jubilee portrait of the Queen on horseback for their obverses. The first features the royal cypher (or the sovereign’s monogram) shown “within a rococo-style cartouche made popular in the latter half of the eighteenth century,” he explained. This design appears on the larger silver collector coins from 5-ounce to 5-kilos. The second design shows the Royal Arms (a heraldic symbol for the monarch) within a royal mantle, and appears on the ¼ oz, 2-ounce, and 1-ounce coins.
![2022 Platinum Jubilee Coin Proof Reverse 2022 Platinum Jubilee Coin Proof Reverse](https://www.govmint.com/media/wysiwyg/2022_platinum_jubilee_coin_proof_reverse.jpg)
![2022 Platinum Jubilee Coin Proof Reverse 2022 Platinum Jubilee Coin Proof Reverse](https://www.govmint.com/media/wysiwyg/2022_platinum_jubilee_coin_proof_reverse.jpg)
![2022 Platinum Jubilee Coin Proof Obverse 2022 Platinum Jubilee Coin Proof Obverse](https://www.govmint.com/media/wysiwyg/2022_platinum_jubilee_coin_proof_obverse.jpg)
![2022 Platinum Jubilee Coin Proof Obverse 2022 Platinum Jubilee Coin Proof Obverse](https://www.govmint.com/media/wysiwyg/2022_platinum_jubilee_coin_proof_obverse.jpg)
The Royal Mint also issued special gold sovereigns this year for the event that broke with the centuries-old tradition of using the design of St. George slaying the dragon by Benedetto Pistrucci, the master engraver of 19th-century coinage. Instead, it features a one-year-only Royal Arms design by Timothy Noad. The Royal Arms is a heraldic design that combines the Lion of England, the Lion of Scotland, and the Harp of Ireland.
How Other Mints Are Celebrating the Platinum Jubilee
There are two silver Proof coins for the special set issued with the Royal Canadian Mint, including a United Kingdom coin with the equestrian obverse design seen on the 50-pence coin and the Royal Arms reverse design. The other coin in the set is a Canadian coin with a reverse designed by artist Pandora Young. Young’s design depicts the Queen as she looked in 1952 with the usual Canadian obverse that carries the Susana Blunt royal portrait.
Among other world mint coins marking this significant milestone in British history is a $1, ½-gram platinum coin from Fiji that features a detailed image of the crown of St. Edward on its reverse – the centerpiece of the headdress worn by British monarchs when they are coronated. Because Fiji is now an independent nation and no longer part of the Commonwealth, the obverse features Fiji’s national coat of arms.
![Fiji Platinum Jubilee Coin Fiji Platinum Jubilee Coin](https://www.govmint.com/media/wysiwyg/fiji_2022_platinum_jubilee_coin_1_1.jpg)
![Fiji Platinum Jubilee Coin Fiji Platinum Jubilee Coin](https://www.govmint.com/media/wysiwyg/fiji_2022_platinum_jubilee_coin_1_1.jpg)
There are two silver Proof coins for the special set issued with the Royal Canadian Mint, including a United Kingdom coin with the equestrian obverse design seen on the 50-pence coin and the Royal Arms reverse design. The other coin in the set is a Canadian coin with a reverse designed by artist Pandora Young. Young’s design depicts the Queen as she looked in 1952 with the usual Canadian obverse that carries the Susana Blunt royal portrait.
Among other world mint coins marking this significant milestone in British history is a $1, ½-gram platinum coin from Fiji that features a detailed image of the crown of St. Edward on its reverse – the centerpiece of the headdress worn by British monarchs when they are coronated. Because Fiji is now an independent nation and no longer part of the Commonwealth, the obverse features Fiji’s national coat of arms.
Many more coins will be issued worldwide by various mints of Commonwealth nations to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee from the mints of Australia and others.
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