5 Francs United Kingdom - Princess Diana and Sir Elton John

The Democratic Republic of Congo's brief experiment with celebrity tribute coinage in the late 1990s produced a peculiar series pairing unrelated British figures under a nominal "United Kingdom" banner — a designation that carries no constitutional meaning on a Congolese issue. Diana died in August 1997; this coin appeared two years later, squarely within the grief-commerce window that saw dozens of minor minting authorities flood the market with memorial pieces aimed at European collectors rather than domestic circulation.

Elton John's inclusion traces directly to his televised performance of "Candle in the Wind 1997" at Diana's Westminster Abbey funeral, the single best-selling physical single in UK chart history at the time.