5 Dollars - Elizabeth II Maria Manrique de Lara y Mendoza

María Manrique de Lara y Mendoza was a Spanish noblewoman who served as queen consort of Poland as the wife of Sigismund II Augustus — a union arranged in 1553 partly to counter Habsburg dynastic pressure on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. She died just two years into the marriage, in 1554, leaving Sigismund to pursue the far more famous and politically disastrous relationship with Barbara Radziwiłł. Her historical footprint is thin, which makes her appearance in a bullion-adjacent commemorative series an unusual editorial choice.