YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. Fifth coin of British monarch’s reign dating back to coronation in 1952 is first to be created entirely digitally and will replace 1998 version.

The lines around the eyes have deepened, the chin has softened, but in the fifth and possibly final coin portrait of her reign, the Queen is looking to the right, straight into the future, with a faint smile.

As reports “Armenpress” citing The Guardian, this autumn, Elizabeth II will pass Victoria’s record as the longest reigning British monarch, and with the issue of the latest coin she equals the number of official portraits issued for Victoria.

Its unveiling was a nerve-wracking moment for the coin’s designer, Jody Clark. Within weeks, as the coin starts to circulate, it will become one of the most widely viewed works of art in the world. Clark has shown Elizabeth in the royal diamond diadem, which she wore for her coronation in 1953 and is displayed on two earlier coins.

“Winning the [coin portrait] competition has been an overwhelming experience – I hope she likes it,” he said.

Clark, whose background was in commercial packaging design before he joined the Royal Mint just under three years ago, celebrated his 34th birthday on Sunday and was just back from paternity leave after the birth of his first child, Joel. “I hope one day he’ll be interested, and proud even, to know I did this,” he said.

The design has been approved by Buckingham Palace, but Clark has never met the Queen. The coin portrait is the first of a UK monarch created entirely digitally, modelled by Clark on screen, based on specially taken photographs of the monarch, sent by the palace. They showed her head from all angles, including the harsh, unforgiving profile which is the coin portrait convention, taken in strong light to bring out the sculptural details of her face.

Clark is the youngest of the five artists whose coin portraits have tracked Elizabeth’s reign, and the first artist on the Royal Mint staff to beat outside candidates for such a commission in more than 100 years. He had to swear his family to secrecy when he reached the initial list of eight invited artists and then the shortlist of three.

 “I wanted to make her look less stern,” he said, “to give her a slightly warmer expression. I hope she thinks it is a fitting and accurate representation.”

Stephen Raw, an artist and member of the Royal Mint’s design advisory committee, said: “I think he’s done very well – it doesn’t just work as a believable image of her at this time of her life, it’s a proper thing, a real portrait.”

Kevin Clancy, director of the Royal Mint museum, will add the computer files and the first resin model to the collection at the museum, where they will join 1,000 years of royal coin portraits of varying degrees of implausibility and obsequiousness.

“The final coins in a long reign often look nothing like the monarch – the last image of George III didn’t remotely resemble the bearded balding man who had been ill for many years.” Clancy said. “Jody’s treatment of her hair is particularly subtle. When you see the Queen you see quite a glamorous woman – I think he’s got that.”

The first coin portrait was made before Elizabeth’s coronation, in 1952 when she became queen upon the death of her father. Instead of a crown, in sculptor Mark Gillick’s idealised portrait of a face barely out of girlhood, she wears a laurel wreath tied with a ribbon at the nape of her neck.

It was followed by the first decimal coin portrait by Arnold Machin in 1968. The design by the artist who also created the definitive stamp portrait showed her with a gracefully turned long bare neck, described by John Betjeman as “a little racy”. This was followed by Raphael Maklouf’s design in 1985, and Ian Rank-Broadley’s in 1998. All three are still in circulation, a royal gallery of passing time jingling in millions of pockets.