UNITED KINGDOM — Designs for bank notes featuring an image of King Charles III have been revealed by the Bank of England, with plans to enter circulation by mid-2024.

Announcing the design for the first time in the run-up to the coronation in May, the UK central bank said the king’s portrait would appear on existing designs of all four of its polymer banknotes currently in circulation – £5, £10, £20 and £50.

The king’s image will appear on the front of the bank notes, as well as in the see-through security window on the notes, which are made from polymer plastic. Notes featuring Queen Elizabeth II will also continue to remain legal tender, allowing the public to carry on using them as normal.

This will mean notes featuring Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III will “co-circulate”, it said.

According to the UK Guardian, although the note designs revealed by the Bank will feature a new portrait of the monarch, the reverse side will remain unchanged, with the author Jane Austen on the £10 notes, the artist JMW Turner on the £20 ones and computer scientist Alan Turing on the £50 notes. Security features, including holograms and plastic windows, will also remain unchanged.

King Charles will become only the second monarch to feature on a Bank of England UK note. Although paper money has been produced by the Bank of England since the late 1600s, a likeness of the reigning monarch was first featured in a 1960 issue by the bank, when the £1 note showing Queen Elizabeth II was introduced for everyday use.

Coins have, however, featured the monarch for centuries.