And while some Belizeans lament the fact that Queen Elizabeth will no longer be on the currency notes - the fact is she can't be.
The queen died in 2022 and her image is no longer licensed for use on currency notes. The Governor of the Central Bank explained this in November:
Kareem Michael, Governor of the Central Bank
"With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the Central Bank was, it was made very clear to our central bank that when in the ordering of our current family of notes, that there will be a cut-off point where we will be allowed to keep ordering notes with Queen Elizabeth."
"There was a workaround where we could have backdated, but I don't like backdate anything. So the other option then is, well you have to make sure you put the new head of the monarch on your notes."
"And we were faced with that decision and obviously that presented an opportunity for us to really consider should we continue going this way. And this is where that pivot began."
Belize now joins other Commonwealth nations that have removed the monarch's image from their currency. The nations who have done so are Australia, Jamaica, Barbados, Gambia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa, and Turks and Caicos.
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