The United Kingdom has announced the introduction of a new royal seal of King Charles II on new passports.
King Charles’s coat of arms will feature on the front of all new passports from December, the Home Office has said.
Natural landscapes from all four UK nations will also feature inside the updated documents, including Ben Nevis, the Lake District, Three Cliffs Bay and the Giant’s Causeway. These are cities in four British countries.
It is the first full redesign of British passports in five years, when they changed from burgundy to dark blue following the UK’s departure from the European Union.
The new passport will have advanced technical security features such as new holographic and translucent features to make it difficult to forge or tamper with the passport. However, it should be noted that the current passports that have the seal of Queen Elizabeth II will still remain valid until their expiration date.
The government advised people to check the validity of their passport and, if needed, apply to renew them in good time ahead of travelling.
UK passports in their modern form, with a photo and signature, have been issued since 1915. The first security watermark was added in 1972 and machine-readable passports were introduced in 1988.