The King has had a limited impact on one very important part of British life – the number of coins bearing his image.

For centuries, the image of the monarch has appeared on the country’s coins but when he took the throne, Charles III insisted that new pieces bearing his likeness should only be introduced when they were needed, to avoid waste.

That means that only a very small number of coins have The King on them and now the Royal Mint has revealed exactly how rare they are.

As it launched a new 5p with King Charles III on it, the Royal Mint said that currently just 0.2% of coins in circulation in the UK bear a likeness of His Majesty.

The rest are all coins from the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. All the coins issued in her reign remain legal tender until they are withdrawn through natural wastage.

Coins are often minted several years before they are needed with the Royal Mint having them ready to put into circulation when demand arises.

That was shown earlier this year when brand new coins bearing the likeness of Queen Elizabeth II appeared in tills, three years after her death.

In August, a new batch of £1 coins featuring the late Queen were put into tills across the UK. They were actually minted in 2022, during her reign, but hadn’t been needed until now.

And as The King had already insisted on using what was made already and not creating new coins unless absolutely necessary, to avoid waste and save costs, almost 23 million of the £1 pieces with Queen Elizabeth II and the date 2022 were released.

The new 5p is the third coin to bear the likeness of King Charles to make it into tills and purses.

It has an oak leaf design on the other side. All the new coins of The King’s reign will bear an image celebrating British flora and fauna to underline his lifelong devotion to the natural world.

Eight places in the UK have been given a special allocation of the new coin as it heads into circulation – all of them have the word ‘oak’ in their name. Among them are the Oaks Post Office in Dungannon in County Tyrone.

The coins were actually minted in 2023 but haven’t been needed until now.

The new 5p joins a 50p and £1 coin with the image of The King already in circulation.