The Queen Mother with a horse: the subject of this 2002 Isle of Man crown was not chosen at random, for the legend LOVE OF HORSES names one of the great passions of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The coin continues the Manx series «The Life and Times of the Queen Mother».

The Queen Mother enjoyed horse racing and was a leading owner of steeplechasers, horses bred to race over fences. Her interest in steeplechasing was sparked in 1949 by the amateur jockey Lord Mildmay. The reverse shows the Queen Mother beside a horse, and the circular legend THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE QUEEN MOTHER ties the coin to the rest of the series.

The series itself is built as a biography in coins. The 1999 crowns covered her childhood, engagement, wedding and departure on honeymoon; those of 2000 a family portrait, the coronation of George VI, the Victory Visit and a 1963 royal visit; those of 2001 her silver wedding and the birth of Prince Charles. The 2002 crown speaks not of an event but of a character.

She was born Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon on 4 August 1900. In 1923 she married Albert, Duke of York; after Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 he became King George VI and she became Queen. After her husband’s death on 6 February 1952 she was known as the Queen Mother, as her daughter Elizabeth II came to the throne. The Queen Mother died in 2002, the year this coin was issued; that same year the Royal Mint struck a memorial £5 coin dated 1900-2002.

The obverse carries Ian Rank-Broadley’s portrait of Elizabeth II; the coin was issued by the Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown Dependency, and struck by Pobjoy Mint. This copper-nickel crown is in UNC grade: it has never circulated, shows no wear and keeps its mint lustre, with only minor storage marks acceptable.

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