Ten years of creation: secrets of the new King Charles banknotes

The imposing domed halls of the Bank of England are silent. After all, setting the country’s interest rates and controlling inflation are serious matters.

Although the atmosphere is austere, I sense a certain excitement in the air as we walk further inside, through labyrinthine corridors with elaborate mosaic floors and past mahogany doors that epitomize solidity and tradition.

I have been given an exclusive invitation to the inner sanctum of the Bank on Threadneedle Street in the City of London for the first glimpse of the new King Charles III banknotes and to hear the story behind their creation.

They will be released in a month’s time, on June 5. It will be the culmination of an extraordinary design, logistics and planning effort that began a decade ago.

Debbie Marriott, lead designer of the banknotes and a key figure in this project, calls them “the nation’s calling card.”

The project exemplifies the best of British craft skills and technological know-how.

This is the age of contactless payments and our legal tender is printed on polymer, not paper.

But the traditional banknote is still a symbol of continuity and the resilience of our currency.

It is also the most commonly seen public work of art depicting the monarch. No wonder Marriott, 58, takes pride in her work.

She joined the Bank as a junior artist in 1990 and became the first female designer. Her previous productions include the Turner £20 note, and her work is, she says, ‘one of the best in the world’.

The key, she explains, is that the artistic form must meet the daily functions of the coin.

‘It’s not just about making something that’s aesthetically pleasing. Banknotes must be safe from counterfeits,” she said.

“They also need to be able to be produced efficiently millions of times, and they need to work in ATMs.

The King’s return last week after cancer treatment adds extra significance to the upcoming launch.

It also makes my first sight of the banknotes all the more emotional. Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, has already presented the king with a set.

Another copy was retrieved especially for our interview from a safe at the institution affectionately known as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street. They are spread out on a table in a bright 1920s room, whose large arched windows are said to adhere to the king’s principles for elegant, life-enhancing architecture. Marriott is joined by its key employee, Stephen Matthews, 51.

He is head of engraving at De La Rue, the 103-year-old company that prints banknotes for the Bank of England and other central banks around the world. The pair are at the top of their highly specialized profession. Their work requires not only artistic talent, but also top-class attention to detail – and diplomacy, for their regular visits to the palace.

The hand of history rests on their shoulders and their quiet pride is inspiring.

Together they explain the different stages in the process of creating the new £5, £10, £20 and £50 banknotes.

The Bank has been issuing banknotes since the end of the 17th century. But King Charles will be only the second monarch to appear among them. The first note to use the portrait of a monarch was the £1 note which appeared in 1960 with the portrait of the late Queen. Marriott begins the story by showing me the photo of the king dressed in the blue velvet robes of the Order of the Garter, on which the new banknote is based.

“Clarence House gave us the king’s picture 10 years ago,” she says. ‘The photo was not taken by anyone special.

“But,” she adds, “the image of the late Queen on the current banknotes was based on a drawing from a photograph taken of her in the 1980s.” In the photo, the king looks serious and there are visible lines on his face.

He does not wear a crown, which represents a shift from the designs in which his late mother wears a diadem.

The image was chosen because it fits easily within the layout of the current ‘family’ of notes. The image chosen had to be one without any adverse effect on security, including the clear windows on the left side of the front of the note that can help check its authenticity.

The Bank and De La Rue team also followed specific instructions from the Palace to minimize the costs of issuing the new banknotes and their impact on the environment. Existing notes are only replaced when they start to become worn.

It took four months for Matthews to convert the king’s photo into the portrait that appears on the banknotes.

“I draw my images by hand,” he says. “In this case, I started with the king’s velvet robes so I had time to get to know his face and really understand his facial features.” “I work with their heads of state on the banknotes of all nations, but in this case the pressure was because it was my monarch.”

He hands me a double-headed magnifying glass so that I can see the results of these deliberations.

The raised ‘intaglio’ image of the King on the banknotes is hand-etched in a series of dots and lines that provide shape and depth, and can be felt when you run your fingers over this part of the banknote.

The technology also makes counterfeiting much more difficult.

Matthews, who joined De La Rue as an apprentice, uses age-old methods and 21st century graphic design software.

His two students learn Photoshop, but they also learn to cut images into steel, just as the students did when engraving was invented as an art form in Europe in the 16th century.

The image was just one building block in the design process.

It is fascinating to study the subtle details required to introduce the image of the King into the design.

The image of the Bank of England facade next to the monarch is extensive.

Shading on the left side of the king’s face was essential to delineate the portrait from the background.

Practical rather than aesthetic concerns underlie the delay between the king’s accession to the throne and the arrival of the new banknotes.

Marriott says: ‘The first banknotes were printed last year. But they did not enter circulation immediately because it takes more than nine months to test them to ensure that the security features worked and that the banknotes did not interfere with the operation of ATMs and other machines.

“Normally we launch a note of only one denomination, but this time we launched four at the same time.”

The Bank’s scientists and other experts participated in this testing exercise, which appears to have made counterfeiting an increasingly rare crime.

During the early part of her career, Marriott saw a few fairly plausible forgeries, but says these have become rare.

Her design’s contribution to the war against counterfeiters will be part of her legacy.

Now that she has completed her work on the new King Charles notes, she is retired.

She will still draw and paint, but prefers landscapes to portraits.

Contactless payments are convenient, but compared to the ancient artistry of “real” money, they are soulless.

His Majesty will no doubt be pleased to know that I, and the rest of his subjects, will spend it with pleasure.