The Royal Tudor Beasts
The Royal Tudor Beasts is a celebrated series of commemorative coins from The Royal Mint, created in partnership with Historic Royal Palaces.
The collection draws inspiration from ten heraldic stone statues that stand guard along the moat bridge leading to Hampton Court Palace. These imposing figures were originally commissioned by King Henry VIII to honour his royal ancestry and the noble lineage of his third queen consort, Jane Seymour.
The statues were lost in the 1690s but were faithfully reconstructed in the early twentieth century and continue to watch over the Great Gatehouse to this day.
2026 Royal Welsh Dragon
The Royal Dragon is one of the most enduring heraldic symbols associated with Wales, and Henry VIII adopted it as a supporter to his coat of arms to represent both his descent from the Welsh House of Tudor and his sovereignty over Wales, a relationship formally enshrined by the 1536 Act of Union.
Like every coin in the Royal Tudor Beasts series, the 2026 Royal Dragon was designed by acclaimed artist David Lawrence. His reverse design depicts the winged Welsh Dragon clutching a shield bearing the royal arms as used during Henry VIII's reign, bringing centuries of royal heraldry to life in exceptional detail.
10th Tudor Beasts Coin
The Royal Dragon is the tenth and final beast in the series, joining nine earlier releases: The Seymour Panther (2022), The Lion of England (2022), The Yale of Beaufort (2023), The Bull of Clarence (2023), The Seymour Unicorn (2024), The Tudor Dragon (2024), The Queen's Panther (2025), The Greyhound of Richmond (2025), and The Queen's Lion (2026).
As with all coins in the collection, the Royal Dragon design is available on a brilliant uncirculated Five Pound and a range of proof formats. Mintages across the series have progressively decreased, and the Royal Dragon is no exception, making this release one of the most sought-after and collectable entries in the entire Royal Tudor Beasts collection.
