2017-10-04 Wed

The 180th Anniversary of Queen Victoria’s Accession to the Throne was celebrated on 20th June 2017. Pobjoy Mint would be releasing an Ultra high relief $10 coin for the British Virgin Islands in Proof Fine Silver to commemorate this glorious event.

The detailing of design and finish of the coins is exceptional. A new effigy design of young HM Queen Elizabeth II is featured on the obverse. The portrait showcases the Queen’s youth, beauty and power. The young Queen changed her childish hairstyle to a mature one after she acceded to the throne. The design recreates this aspect with utmost detail. 650 coins in Proof Fine Silver would be released. Each coin has a 1oz piedfort and a total weight of 2oz.

Princess Victoria of Kent was born in 1819 to a German-born Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Prince Edward Duke of Kent and Strathearn. Soon after she was born, her father died. She was kept away from her oppressive mother and rumoured lover Sir John Conroy. They came up with a set of strict rules known as the ‘Kensington System’ so that the Queen-to-be would be dependent on them. Victoria was hated by both her mother and Conroy. Even though she was the fifth in line to the throne at birth, a series of family deaths resulted in her Coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1838 when she was just 18 years old.

Apart from being named the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, she also went on to become the ‘Empress of India’. She was also called the ‘Grandmother of Europe’ after her nine children with First Cousin Albert married royals throughout Europe.

She reigned for 63 years and died when she was 81 years old. As many as six attempts of assassinations were carried out on the Queen. The final death ceremony was a special one when mementos of her friends, family and servants like a plaster cast of Albert’s hand, one of his dressing gowns and a lock of her servant John Brown’s hair was buried along with her body.