5 Francs The Netherlands - Prince Hendrik

A Congolese commemorative struck under the short-lived Banque Centrale du Congo Démocratique — the country had reverted to its colonial-era name "Congo Démocratique" only two years earlier, following Laurent-Désiré Kabila's overthrow of Mobutu in 1997. These issues from the late 1990s were part of a broad series of foreign-themed commemoratives produced almost entirely for the collector market, with negligible domestic circulation. Prince Hendrik of the Netherlands, consort to Queen Wilhelmina, died in 1934 — his appearance here has no discernible connection to Congolese history.