The Yale of Beaufort, Captured in Fine Gold

Ten ancestral beasts guarded Westminster Abbey on the coronation of Her Majesty The Queen in 1953. These beasts – lions, a griffin, a falcon, a bull, a yale, a greyhound, a dragon, a unicorn and a horse – are part of an enduring legacy that charts the pivotal events and twists of fate that have come to define our ruling dynasties. The Royal Mint has celebrated these symbols of heraldry since 2017 and the sixth release in the series is the mythical Yale of Beaufort. The yale follows the Red Dragon of Wales and the Black Bull of Clarence which were released in 2018, the year of the 65th anniversary of the coronation of The Queen.

The yale is a symbolic and prestigious beast. It descends to The Queen through Henry VII, who inherited it from his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, who had played a central role in the Wars of the Roses. It is a mythical creature, described in ancient times as the size of a hippopotamus with the tail of an elephant, the jaws of a boar and of a black or tawny colour.