Royal Bank of Scotland commemorates QEII
Patriotic celebration, or quantitative easing by the back door? The Royal Bank of Scotland has unveiled its contribution to the Diamond Jubilee festivities in the form of a commemorative £10 note.
The bailed-out bank yesterday showed its appreciation for its de facto owner with £2m worth of royal purple and green tenners.
RBS needed to replace some of its ageing notes anyway, so sadly the issue won’t do much to pour cash into the economy, beyond a charity auction of some of the collectible currency.
The bank notes will be treated as legal currency, with the serial numbers starting with TQDJ – short for “The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee”.
Loyal subjects can buy themselves a leaf or two of numismatic history by mail order between now and the end of June.
Don’t hold your breath for similar celebratory notes south of the border, however. The Bank of England, whose boss Sir Mervyn King last week warned that the jubilee bank holidays could keep the country in recession, has settled instead for a “royal address” and an exhibition at the Bank’s museum to mark the occasion.
Given the amount of flak Sir Merv has already taken for QE2, it’s not surprising QEII holds little sway over on Threadneedle Street.