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Buckingham Palace unveiled the royal cypher of Charles III.
The palace used the symbol for the first time on Tuesday in a letter sent by the royal family.
A royal cypher is a stylized monogram representing a reigning sovereign of a country or member of a royal family. They are widely used as a mark of authority in European monarchies such as Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Romania.
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In Britain, royal ciphers appear on government property and uniforms to indicate the ownership of the king or queen. British royal codes can be found on mailboxes, guard uniforms, royal mail and banners.
The Charles cipher features the letters ‘C’ and ‘R’ for the name ‘Charles’ and the Latin word ‘Rex’ which means ‘King’. An additional ‘III’ mark is surrounded by an ‘R’, indicating that Charles was his third king in England bearing that name.
As with most British monarchs, the monogram appears below the rendering of St. Edward’s crown in the center of the British Crown Jewels.
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Charles’ late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, had the ‘E’ and ‘R’ ciphers surrounding the Roman numeral ‘II’ all under the same British crown.
This monogram was seen throughout the funerals of deceased monarchs.
Both Charles and Elizabeth retain alternative versions of the cipher for use in Scotland, with initials bearing the more appropriate Scottish crown.
King Charles III was previously proclaimed monarch in a historic ceremony
Replacing a deceased monarch’s crypto can be an arduous process as various government agencies arrange to replace assets containing obsolete monograms. For this reason, governments do not change postboxes or other public resources that hold obsolete ciphers, usually changing only the monogram when replacing them.
Britain still has postboxes monogrammed with King George V, who began his reign in 1910.
Some government buildings retain the royal ciphers in which they were founded, but updating or maintaining decorations is left to the discretion of individual officials.
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The new banknotes featuring the likeness of Charles III are expected to be in circulation by 2024.
Coins featuring profiles of new monarchs are also expected to enter the UK economy in the future, similar to postage stamps.