Royal Mint unveils first coins featuring King Charles III

Britain's Royal Mint has unveiled the first coins to feature the portrait of King Charles III. Britons will begin to see Charles' image on their change in December, as 50-pence coins depicting him enter circulation.

The new monarch's effigy was created by British sculptor Martin Jennings, and has been personally approved by Charles, the Royal Mint said Friday. In keeping with tradition, the king's portrait faces to the left — the opposite direction to his mother's, Queen Elizabeth II.

"Charles has followed that general tradition that we have in British coinage, going all the way back to Charles II actually, that the monarch faces in the opposite direction to their predecessor," said Chris Barker at the Royal Mint Museum.