Shakespeare and Beatrix Potter appear on new coin designs for 2016
The Royal Mint in Llantrisant is commemorating 1,000 years of British history in their latest coin designs for 2016.
Themes include honouring 400 years of Shakespeare's legacy, the 150th anniversary of Beatrix Potter's birth and the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London.
Each of the nation’s new coins for 2016 gives a snapshot of Britain over the last 1,000 years, marking key moments, organisations and people that have shaped the nation today.
The 2016 circulating coin designs revealed:
The histories, comedies and tragedies of William Shakespeare are each represented on £2 coins marking 400 years of the Bard’s literary legacy.
A 50p coin honours Beatrix Potter, the author and artist whose illustrated animal tales have delighted generations of children worldwide, on the 150th anniversary of her birth.
The year 1066 is a date imprinted on many a schoolchild’s memory - the fate of King Harold at The Battle of Hastings features on a 50p coin 950 years after the battle took place.
The Great Fire of London, an event that changed the face of Britain’s capital city, is to have its 350th anniversary commemorated on a £2 coin.
Each coin bears the fifth definitive portrait of The Queen first introduced to UK coinage in 2015.