Portrait of Queen Elizabeth for newly minted coins unveiled

Britain's Royal Mint unveiled a new portrait of Queen Elizabeth for coins on 2 March at the National Portrait Gallery.

It is the fifth and likely final portrait of the Queen used for coins. The last one was done 17 years ago.

The image was created by Royal Mint engraver and artist Jody Clark, who won the anonymous competition to design the effigy.

"It's an overwhelming feeling to know that something that I created is going to be reproduced millions of times on UK coins," he said.

"The Queen hasn't really aged that much since the last effigy I don't think, so I didn't really want to go to town ageing her, but also I made some key changes - the crown is the one she wore for her coronation, so I thought that was quite fitting."

Royal author Robert Jobson said the Queen must have liked the new portrait to have approved it.

"I think it's a lovely image, it is certainly reflective of the Queen, it's realistic and it is also softer than the previous image. I personally really like it and I am sure as Her Majesty has approved it, she likes it too," he said.

"It's not stylised too much, I think in previous effigies they seemed to be more symbolic in a way. This one is more realistic, there are a few more lines," he said.

In September this year the Queen will become Britain's longest reigning monarch, beating Queen Victoria's 63-year record.

A commemorative coin featuring the new image has just been released and regular coins will go into production in April, but the Royal Mint says they will not be in wide circulation across the UK until around September.