Dame Vera Lynn: £2 coins celebrates Forces sweetheart

Forces' sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn is being celebrated with the launch of £2 coins designed by the Royal Mint.

The singer and entertainer lifted people's spirits during World War Two with songs including We'll Meet Again and The White Cliffs Of Dover.

The reverse design of the special £2 coin features a detailed portrait of Dame Vera alongside the words "we'll meet again".

It also includes the date of her life following her death in 2020, aged 103.

Dame Vera's daughter, Virginia Lewis-Jones, said: "It's fantastic to see my mother celebrated in this way and to ensure her legacy lives on.

"We're just so excited and pleased - even more so knowing that Royal Mint coins require approval of Her Majesty the Queen. I'm especially pleased that this coin is available to international collectors.

"Over the years I've always been touched by the sacks of letters we receive from people all over the world who have been moved in some way by my mother's music, charity work or morale-boosting performances during the war."

Dame Vera also became heavily involved with charity work later in her life.

In particular, she campaigned for the Burma Star Association - a British veterans' association for ex-servicemen and women who served in the Burma Campaign during World War Two.

She was made a Dame in 1975 and a Companion of Honour in 2016.

Clare Maclennan, director of commemorative coins at the Royal Mint, which is based in Llantrisant, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, said the coin was "the latest tribute to one of Britain's greatest national treasures".