The Duke of Cambridge's big birthday is being commemorated with a special £5 coin in the U.K.
Prince William will soon be seeing his face in silver. The Royal Mint announced Monday that the Duke of Cambridge is being commemorated with a special £5 coin in the U.K. in honor of his 40th birthday!
The design, which was shared on Twitter, shows William in a three-quarter profile gazing up to the top right of the coin, with the number 40 to his left and his royal cipher "W" to his right.
The special announcement comes just weeks ahead of William's milestone birthday on June 21. The coin also marks the first time the royal has been featured solo on a coin. He appeared alongside his wife, Kate Middleton, on a commemorative piece in celebration of their royal wedding in 2011.
Thomas T. Docherty, a product designer at The Royal Mint said the design strikes "a balance between this fresh energy of His Royal Highness being a young dad with the ceremonial nature of his royal position. That’s where the portrait and the pose he’s striking helped me convey an element of dynamism within the design, whilst retaining his royal stature."
Docherty, who recently turned 40 himself, went on to call creating the coin the "highlight" of his career.
"Even though our lives are obviously a million miles apart, I understand how it feels to have just turned 40 and to have a young family of my own, so I wanted to ensure I captured His Royal Highness accurately at this stage in his life," he shared.
William's birthday comes just weeks before the royal family and the U.K. celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee. It's unclear what William will be doing to celebrate, but royal expert, Katie Nicholl, did tell ET that it may serve as a time for William and his brother, Prince Harry, to work mend their long-strained relationship.
"Harry, I'm told, suggested perhaps that they might get some sort of a mediator in on sort of these talks, to make some progress," Nicholl shared of the mediation she said Harry suggested during his stop in the U.K. ahead of the 2022 Invictus Games in the Netherlands. "It was something that he had suggested to his father. He's made it very clear that he wants to sort things out. He wants things to be improved."
"I'm hearing that he wants to be over here for the queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June. I think, possibly, that suggestion of a mediator is probably less the relationship with his father, because his father is open to wanting to sort things out," Nicholl continued. "I would imagine it's more to do with his brother. I would imagine that that idea of wanting a mediator is probably more to do with him and William. His relationship, really, is at a bit of a crossroads. We have been told for many months now that they're not close at the moment. It has been very, very difficult."
For more on the royal family, check out the video below.
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