Description
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the Year of Three Kings, the remarkable time when Britain had three different kings all in the one year. When George V died in January 1936 his eldest son acceded as Edward VIII. Sensationally, he abdicated later that same year, making his younger brother King George VI — giving Britain three monarchs in a single year.
To mark this anniversary a new gold sovereign has been struck, and as it also features the portrait of our current king, Charles III, it is the first coin of its kind ever to feature FOUR different British kings of 1936. Each facing in the same direction – and the Imperial Crown. The design was created by the distinguished coin artist Jody Clark. But it is what the obverse of these coins adds that makes these coins genuinely unprecedented. On the obverse side is the portrait of our own King Charles III. This means that for the first time in history, sovereign coins have been made available featuring the portraits of four different British kings.
This 90th anniversary coin is likely to resonate with anyone who admires the British monarchy. The events of 1936 provoked a genuine constitutional crisis and came closer to unravelling the very institution itself than most people think. That it did not — that George VI stepped forward, that the monarchy endured, and that we still have the Royal Family today — is something in which many people take a quiet but powerful national pride
There may be tens of thousands who want one of these new coins, but that simply is not going to be possible as the coin is subject to a strict limitation of mintage. This coin is limited to just 99 coins worldwide.
Here is a snapshot of the benefits:
- All four royal portraits by the same artist: All four kings’ portraits are the work of Jody Clark — creator of the final coinage portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, and designer of the portrait of King Charles III on the obverse. That both sides of these coins — all four kings — are his work is significant.
- This is the right moment — the 90th anniversary of the Year of Three Kings falls, for the first time in history, in the reign of a ‘fourth king’. Every previous milestone anniversary — from the 10th to the 80th — took place in the reign of King George VI or Queen Elizabeth II. Only now, in 2026, does the anniversary add a fourth monarch’s portrait to the design. This moment is unique.
The first sovereign coins in history made available featuring four different kings — and why the 90th anniversary of 1936 makes them possible
To understand why this coin represents a world first for collectors, we must consider a simple historical fact: every previous milestone anniversary of 1936 took place in the reign of either King George VI or Queen Elizabeth II. The 10th anniversary, in 1946, was marked in the reign of George VI — the very man who had to step forward after the abdication. The 20th anniversary (in 1956) fell in the early years of Queen Elizabeth II’s long and beloved reign. And so it continued — the 50th, the 60th, the 70th, the 80th — all of them occurring in that same reign as Queen Elizabeth II reigned for seventy years. Anniversary after anniversary came and went.
But 2026 is different. This is the first major anniversary of 1936 to fall in the reign of King Charles III — a ‘fourth king’ — in the line of succession from that tumultuous year. And so, for the first time, the Year of Three Kings has lent itself to the release of coins with the portraits of four kings.
Authorised by Tristan Da Cunha and approved by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and , it is a wonderful way to mark the 90th anniversary.
