More than seven million 10p coins carrying King Charles’ portrait will begin finding their way into the nation’s purses and pockets for the very first time.The Royal Mint confirmed that the new coins, prompted by rising demand for the denomination, will start entering circulation today.Adorning the reverse – or more commonly known as “tails” – side is the capercaillie, a striking woodland bird native to the British Isles.The design forms part of a broader collection celebrating Britain’s wildlife and flora, a theme chosen to reflect the King’s well-known dedication to conservation.These 10p pieces mark the fourth denomination to bear the King’s face, joining the 5p, 50p and £1 coins that have entered everyday use since 2022.Of the total batch, 600,000 bear a 2023 date while the remaining 6.5million are stamped 2026.Given that coins featuring the King’s portrait currently account for merely one per cent of the more than 24 billion pieces circulating across the UK, the Mint expects these new 10p coins to become particularly coveted among collectors.Coins depicting Queen Elizabeth II continue to hold their status as legal tender and remain in active use.More than seven million 10p coins carrying King Charles’ portrait will begin finding their way into the nation’s purses and pockets for the very first time | PAThose eager to get their hands on the new denomination can do so through post offices and bank branches nationwide.A limited number will also be dispensed at tills within the Royal Mint Experience, the institution’s visitor centre in South Wales.Rebecca Morgan, a director at the Royal Mint, described the occasion as a defining chapter in Britain’s coinage history.”This is a landmark moment for the nation’s coinage, as people begin finding the very first 10p coins bearing the King’s portrait in their change,” she said.These 10p pieces mark the fourth denomination to bear the King’s face, joining the 5p, 50p and £1 coins that have entered everyday use since 2022 | PAMs Morgan also highlighted the deeper purpose behind selecting the capercaillie for the coin’s design.”We hope that by putting this extraordinary bird into millions of pockets and purses, we can spark a nationwide conversation about a species at real risk of vanishing from Britain forever,” she added.The choice carries a pointed conservation message, placing an endangered native species quite literally into the hands of millions of Britons – a quiet yet powerful reminder of the wildlife heritage this country stands to lose.According to a recent report from UK Finance, cash transactions fell to 3.9 billion in 2025, down from 4.3 billion the year before.As a share of all payments, cash accounted for just eight per cent last year – a dramatic slide from 45 per cent a decade earlier in 2015.By 2035, the industry body forecasts that figure will halve again to roughly four per cent, amounting to some two billion transactions.Yet cash remains far from irrelevant. Approximately 1.4 million adults across the country still depend on it as their primary means of day-to-day spending, even as 19 million others use it no more than once a month.