500 Pounds - Elizabeth II Lion of England, Gold Proof

The Lion of England is the fifth and final entry in the Queen's Beast series, which the Royal Mint launched in 2016 to commemorate Elizabeth II's 90th birthday. The full ten-beast program — drawn from the heraldic supporters that flanked the Queen's own coronation in 1953 — concluded just months before her death in September 2022, lending this closing issue an unplanned finality.

The two-kilogram format at this denomination sits at the upper end of what the series produced in gold proof, with strict mintage caps applied across the Beast issues to maintain collector premiums.