Post Your Charming Charlies!

Ok, I'm on.

Since our king is named Charles (well, Carl), I feel I should start with him! I don't collect modern Swedish coins, but here is one taken from circulation:

Carl XVI Gustaf, Sweden 2 kronor, 2016.



Although now in his 70s and having cooled down a bit, he was known as a playboy during his time as a young crown prince. Here is a picture of Prince Charming at Waikiki Beach in the 1960s:


Photo courtesy of hant.se

Great idea for a thread!

Here's Charles II, King of England, the Merry Monarch himself, on a 1675 sixpence:

Charles II was tall but not conventionally handsome, although he certainly had a way with the ladies. He famously escaped from Cromwell's soldiers in 1651 by hiding in a hollow oak tree: to this day, many old British pubs bear the name 'The Royal Oak'. Married to Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza, he is remembered more for his string of mistresses, especially Nell Gwynne. For many British people his reign was seen as a welcome change from the puritanical rule of Cromwell, although it was marked by war with Holland and the disasters of the Great Plague and Great Fire of London.

Australia 1981 50 cents with Charles and Diana.

Nice Charlies, @NumisRob and @triggersmob!

From the latest reigning monarch in the world named Charles/Carl (Swedish king Carl XVI) some 1250 years back in time to the first (?)*:

Charlemagne (Charles the Great), Francia/Frankish Kingdom, denier, 771-81, minted in Melle.

Inscriptions: CAROLVS / MEDOLVS.



Charlemagne married four times and had numerous concubines, I'm not sure how charming that makes him.

* Anyone know of any monarchs (kings, emperors) before Charlemagne named Charles (in any language)? Charlemagne's co-ruler and brother Carloman also minted coins from the same date; they are extremely rare. Charlemagne's forefathers Charles Martel and (another) Carloman ruled half a century before, but were formally not monarchs during the Merovingian dynasty's last years of puppet kings (and they did not mint coins in their own names).

Nine French Charles's after Charles I, Charlemagne, we have this one:

Charles X, France, 20 francs, 1827, Paris (A).



Although considered good looking and having numerous affairs, Charles was not very charming in the eyes of his subjects. His anti-liberal politics included compensating pre-revolutionary landowners (i.e., nobility), press censorship and capital punishment for sacrilege. He was forced to abdicate in the July revolution 1830.

An example of where the coin is more charming than the king!

The Free Imperial City of Besançon was a self-governing city that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Charles V granted to the the city the right to coin money in 1526, provided that they include his effigy. After his death in 1558, Besançon continued to honor him by including the face of the emperor on the coinage.

1542 Carolus

1587 Carolus

Nice Besançon coins!

Not quite contemporary with Charles V himself, but contemporary with his posthumous Besançon coins:

Charles IV, Lorraine, 1632, teston.




I don't know about his charm factor, but he did have an impressive coat of arms.

Very nicely struck example!


Indeed. I've always wondered about the origin of the pair of fish.