Banknotes featuring a portrait of King Charles are to begin entering circulation for the very first time.

The Bank of England is to release four new notes from Wednesday, June 5.

The King’s image will appear on new £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes, replacing the photo of his mother Queen Elizabeth, but there will be no other changes to the existing designs.

Notes featuring the late monarch - who died in September 2022 aged 96 - will remain legal tender and can continue to be used.

Any new banknotes, says the Bank of England, will only be printed to replace those that are worn or to meet any increase in demand - which matches the wishes of the Royal Household to minimise any environmental or financial impact from the necessary switch.

The new King Charles notes follow the first coins to have been minted using his portrait, which began entering circulation last December via Post Office branches.

Getting a new King Charles banknote

For collectors and fans of the Royal Family who are keen to get their hands on one of the first crisp new notes, the Bank of England is launching a temporary exchange service.

Its website explains: “We recognise, however, that people may be interested in seeing the new notes, and have therefore put in place temporary facilities to allow people to obtain a limited value of the King Charles III banknotes.”

The postal swap service will require people to send in their current or old series bank notes together with a completed application form that can be found on the site here - and new King Charles III bank notes will be sent in exchange.

The exchanged notes, says the Bank of England, can only be sent to a UK address and the service will be available from June 5 until June 30 and be limited to £300 per customer.

The Bank of England counter at Threadneedle Street in London will also only be issuing new banknotes featuring King Charles III from June 5 to June 11 - where the same £300 limit applies for those keen to get their hands on the new design.

From June 12 the bank’s counter will revert to issuing Queen Elizabeth II notes only.

The Bank of England says it expects ‘high volumes’ of customers will want to get their hands on the new-look notes.

It is also appealing to anyone with old series bank notes to exchange - in excess of £300 - to avoid this month’s release dates and wait for a quieter period to be served.