The Royal Tudor Beasts Series - Investment Coins
The series of investment coins represents ten heraldic animals from the genealogy of King Henry VIII. Tudor and his third wife Jane Seymour.
The series follows the success of the very popular The Queen's Beasts series. However, in the history of the British monarchy it was the other way around. The statues of Queen Elizabeth II's heraldic beasts found their inspiration in Henry VIII. Tudor.
After the king had his second wife, Anne Boleyn, executed, he married her lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour. For Henry VIII, the third marriage represented a new hope of a dream male heir and the preservation of the Tudor royal line. As part of the celebration of the marriage in 1536, he had 10 heraldic statues placed outside the royal palace at Hampton Court Palace in London, referring to the ancestry of the king and his new wife.
The stylised form of the statues was designed by David Lawrence for a series of coins.
The royal union of Henry and Jane is evidenced by the Seymour panther, the lion of England, the greyhound of Richmond, the yale of Beaufort, the Tudor dragon, the Seymour unicorn, the royal dragon, the Queen's lion, the bull of Clarence and the Queen's panther.
