5 Pounds - Elizabeth II 4th portrait, Trafalgar

Issued to mark the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, fought on 21 October 1805, this crown-sized piece appeared in a year of considerable national ceremony — the UK staged a large international fleet review at Spithead in June 2005, attended by ships from over 35 nations, notably without identifying fleets as "French" or "British" to avoid diplomatic awkwardness with France. Nelson's death aboard HMS Victory during the battle had already secured his place as the dominant figure in British naval memory well before the first commemorative coinage appeared.