The Royal Dutch Mint have issued a special medal in honor of the “Copper” wedding anniversary of the King & Queen of the Netherlands. 

The anniversary, which celebrates the 12 ½ year wedding anniversary of the pair who were married on the 2^nd February 2002, is exactly half of what may be their silver anniversary, which would be in 2027. Traditionally, the copper year of marriage falls either on the 7^th (US) or the 9^th (UK) years but as copper is also placed behind silver as a means of precedence, it only seemed appropriate to mark 12 ½ years with this novel designation!

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Orange married his fiancée Miss Maxima Zorreguieta, a native of Argentina and former investment banker who met the Prince in 1999. They were married in Amsterdam in a ceremony attended by many crowned heads of state as well as Dutch dignitaries. Their first child, Princess Catharina Amalia arrived in a year and a half later followed by two more daughters. King Willem-Alexander succeeded to the Dutch Throne on the 30^th April 2013 after the abdication of his mother, the much-lived Queen Beatrix after a reign of 33 years exactly, he is the country’s first king in 123 years. Upon his accession, Crown Princess Maxima became Queen consort, the country’s first female consort since 1890.

The medal, designed by Elles Kloosterman includes informal profiles of both King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima facing to the right with a commemorative inscription in Dutch above and below the two portraits. The reverse includes the wedding date and anniversary date along with crowned conjoined monograms of the Royal couple intertwined with wedding rings.