Royalty
New one-year only double portrait released to celebrate The Queen and Prince Philip’s 70 years of marriage
On the 20th November, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh will celebrate their Platinum Wedding Anniversary – that’s an incredible 70 years of marriage and a first in British royal history.
The Platinum Wedding Anniversary Five Pound Proof Coin
In honour of the occasion a new coin has been issued – featuring a specially commissioned one-year-only double portrait.
The coin has been officially approved by both Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip, and proudly displays their initials surrounded by a design inspired by the North Rose Window of Westminster Abbey – where their wedding took place in 1947.
But it is the new double portrait that will turn heads and have collectors rushing to secure theirs. Designed by renowned sculptor Luigi Badia, it features both The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh and will only ever be seen on Platinum Wedding Anniversary Coins.
It’s not very often that one-year-only portraits are released, not to mention a double portrait. They really are only issued for the most important Royal anniversaries.
New one-year-only obverse design
As you’ll appreciate, designing a new effigy is not a simple process, with an extremely rigorous approval procedure.
That’s why special portraits such as this are few and far between and are so popular with collectors.
Luigi, from New York, explains the concept behind the design:
“I was extremely honored to be commissioned to sculpt a brand new portrait to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh’s 70th wedding anniversary. I was inspired to use a contemporary image of the royal couple to capture both their achievement of reaching such a milestone and to reflect on the long life they have shared together.”
The design process…
The design is intricately engraved onto the die
Careful consideration has to be put into the shape and size of the coin. Luigi painstakingly hand-engraved the design – with the added complication of retaining the typesetting within the circular shape.
The finalised ‘plaster’ engraving is then ready to be reduced down into a die (shown opposite) – which is hardened and used to mint the commemorative coins collectors can own.
Struck to a variety of specifications…
The new coin is to be struck in a range of different specifications, from a face value version right up to a staggering 10oz platinum edition – which has already sold out.
And the other coins are likely to prove just as popular – with a highly collectable proof coin, a pure silver coin, and a 5oz gold coin amongst those available, there is something to suit everyone.
These coins really do make a fitting tribute to Her Majesty and Prince Philip’s 70 years of marriage, and the stunning double portrait marks them out as truly prestigious commemoratives to forever remember this once-in-a-lifetime celebration.
The Platinum Wedding Five Pound Proof Coin
If you are interested…
You can mark the occasion by adding the Platinum Wedding Anniversary Proof £5 Coin to your collection today. It’s limited to just 4,950 worldwide and a sell-out is expected, especially as it features the new one-year-only double portrait.
Why the Queen & Prince Philip are literally 1 in a million (and Google doesn’t even know the answer)…
Google has the answer to everything. Well actually not quite everything, it seems…
Her Majesty the Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at their Wedding in 1947
That’s because when I sat down to write this blog about the Queen and Prince Philip’s Platinum Wedding Anniversary in November this year, I thought it would be interesting to see how many couples actually celebrate 70 years of marriage.
The answer is Google doesn’t know.
And the more I dug around, the more I realised the reason why. It’s incredibly rare.
So if Google can’t tell us, let’s see if we can come up with an answer.
Fundamental to the problem is that there is simply no central record of how long marriages last until one of the couple passes away. But perhaps we can make some assumptions based on some of the statistics that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) do publish.
How likely are two people to both make it past their 90th Birthday?
In 1947 the median age for marriage was 23.7 for men and 20.5 for women[i], making Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten pretty typical of their generation, marrying aged 21 and 26. It also means it’s fair to work on the basis that for nearly any couple celebrating their Platinum Wedding Anniversary, they are both going to be in their nineties.
So the chances for making it past the age of 90 in England and Wales is 0.8%[ii]. That means that the chances of two people BOTH making it is:
0.008 x 0.008 = 0.000064
0.0064% chance of two people both making it past their 90th birthday.
How many people were married in 1947?
Fortunately, it is much easier to uncover how many people married in 1947. In fact 1947 is the very first year that the ONS not only holds data for the total number of marriages in England and Wales but also in which month they took place.[iii]
Certainly by choosing November, they were not following the trend. In fact with fewer than 30,000 marriages that month, it was the third least popular month for weddings that year.
Overall, the young princess and her naval officer beau were one of 401,210 couples to tie the knot that year. Statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland appear more difficult to track down but it would be reasonable to extrapolate the numbers based on the overall UK population split, which suggests a figure for the whole of the UK.
466,000 UK marriages in 1947.
But what about divorces?
Data is not easily available for 1947 but it can be found for English and Welsh marriages in 1950[iv]. According to the ONS, 8.6% of marriages at that time ended in divorce, so we should discount them out from our 466,000 UK marriages.
466,000 x 91.4% = 426,000 non-divorce marriages in 1947.
How many Platinum Wedding Anniversaries might we expect this year?
So we have now have two critical pieces of data. The chances of two people making it past the age of 90 – the realistic milestone age to celebrate a Platinum Wedding Anniversary – and the number of marriages in 1947 that did not end in divorce.
Based on that we can multiply the two numbers together to give us a pretty reasonable estimate of the number of couples who will celebrate 70 years of marriage this year.
426,000 x 0.0064% = 27 Platinum Wedding Anniversaries
So, although there are no official statistics to back it up, it seems likely that only around 30 couples will join the Queen and Prince Philip in celebrating their Platinum Wedding Anniversary this year. Or to put it another way – just 60 people in the UK will mark 70 years of marriage in 2017 – that’s 1 in a million.
That’s why for me, forget the Jubilees; forget the birthdays. For the Queen and Prince Philip their Platinum Wedding Anniversary is the pinnacle of their long list of incredible milestones. And we, the British people, must join them in marking this historic moment.
[i] www.census.gov
[ii] www.theguardian.com
[iii] www.ons.gov.uk
[iv] www.ons.gov.uk
Released today: the new 2017 United Kingdom Prince Philip £5 coin
On 4th May Buckingham Palace announced that HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, after 70 years at Her Majesty’s side, would be retiring from public duty. To mark this record-breaking achievement, and celebrate his 70 years of service to Her Majesty the Queen, The Royal Mint have today released a brand new design in tribute to Prince Philip.
The design features Humphrey Paget’s (1893-1974) portrait of The Duke of Edinburgh. Paget’s legacy was much more than just this portrait though – he is now considered to be one of the most exceptional coin artists of the 20th century.
The Royal Mint’s coin designer Lee R. Jones has added to the portrait to include a table inscription and an edge inscription. The final design has been officially approved by Prince Philip himself.
The coin is available in Gold Proof, Silver and Brilliant Uncirculated Base Metal. Here’s your guide to the new 2017 United Kingdom Prince Philip £5 coin range:
Perfect Quality. Very Affordable.
The Prince Philip CERTIFIED BU £5 Coin
The Royal Mint is releasing a brilliant uncirculated base metal version of the Prince Philip £5 coin. These coins have been specially struck and carefully handled to ensure that they are free of scratches and chips found amongst circulating coins.
Known as Brilliant Uncirculated (BU), they are available for £13.00 in a Royal Mint Presentation Pack or £10.99 in a Change Checker Certified Brilliant Uncirculated Collector Card.
Silver Proof – the Collector’s Favourite.
UK 2017 Prince Philip Silver Proof £5
The Silver Proof £5 coin is firmly established as the most sought-after coin amongst collectors because they have all the qualities that collectors really desire.
- Precious metal content – struck from 925/1000 Sterling Silver
- Strictly Limited Edition – just 3,000 coins. That’s EVEN LESS than the last UK Prince Philip coin issued for his 90th birthday. With a mintage of 4,599 it was, at the time, the most limited Silver Proof UK £5 coin ever issued.
- The perfect Proof Finish – even better than Brilliant Uncirulated. Proof coins are struck several times using specially polished dies to create a flawless finish with a perfect mirrored background. The ultimate coin quality.
The Gold Standard
UK 2017 Prince Philip Gold Proof £5
For the ultimate limited edition, a Gold Proof coin has also been issued. Struck in 22 carat Gold, just 300 of these coins have been authorised for release.
If you’re interested …
You can own one of the Prince Philip £5 Coins. Click here to see the range >>