Mark your diaries, put in your request for annual leave, and start stocking up on party poppers NOW; for in less than four months we will finally have brand-new banknotes with King Charles III’s face on them.
It’s been just under a year since the UK crowned a new monarch, a once in a lifetime event which now looks fairly likely to happen again within the next ten years. Almost exactly a year and a month later, on June 5 2024, our money will begin to reflect this change.
The new banknotes’ only changes will be changing Queen Elizabeth’s face to Charles’, but don’t worry! The ones with Lizzie on them will still be legal tender, and will continue to be so until they are eventually phased out.
According to the Bank of England, the new cash will begin circulation in very gradually in an effort to ‘minimise the environmental and financial impact of this change’. Initially only damaged or very worn notes will be replaced, while the new notes will be used to adjust inflation. In short, you won’t see very many of notes with Charlie’s mug on for quite a while yet.
A series of limited ‘low serial’ (the first few to be printed) notes will be auctioned for charity, where people will spend thousands of pounds on a fiver. It’s a strange world sometimes.
If you want to get your hands on a shiny new King Charles tenner but would prefer to spend at most £10, your best bet is sadly just to wait. If you’re desperate to get your eyes on the new notes, you can also get a sneak preview at an exhibition at the Bank of England Museum in London.
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