designs All modern British coins feature a profile of the current monarch's head on the obverse. There had been only one monarch since decimalisation, Queen Elizabeth II, so her head appears on all decimal coins, facing to the right (see also Monarch's profile, below). However, five different effigies have been used, reflecting the Queen's changing appearance as she has aged. These are the effigies by Mary Gillick (until 1968), Arnold Machin (1968–1984), Raphael Maklouf (1985–1997), Ian Rank-Broadley (1998–2015), and Jody Clark (from 2015). In September 2022, the first portrait of Charles III was revealed, designed by Martin Jennings. All current coins carry a Latin inscription whose full form is , meaning "Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, Queen and Defender of the Faith". The inscription appears on the coins in any of several abbreviated forms, typically . Following the accession of Charles III, this will read as . 2008 redesign In 2008, UK coins underwent an extensive redesign which eventually changed the reverse designs of all coins, the first wholesale change to British coinage since the first decimal coins were introduced in April 1968. The major design feature was the introduction of a reverse design shared across six coins (1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p), that can be pieced together to form an image of the Royal Shield. This was the first time a coin design had been featured across multiple coins in this way. To summarize the reverse design changes made in 2008 and afterwards: The 1p coin depicts the lower part of the first quarter and the upper part of the third quarter of the shield, showing the lions passant of England and the harp of Ireland respectively The 2p coin depicts most of the second quarter of the shield, showing the lion rampant of Scotland The 5p coin depicts the centre of the shield, showing the meeting and parts of the constituent parts of the shield The 10p coin depicts most of the first quarter of the shield, containing the three lions passant of England The 20p coin depicts the lower part of the second quarter and upper part of the fourth quarter, showing the lion rampant of Scotland and the lions passant of England respectively The 50p coin depicts the point of the shield and the bottom portions of the second and third quarters showing the harp of Ireland and lions passant of England respectively