Royal Mint was historically part of a series of mints that became centralised to produce coins for the Kingdom of England, all of Great Britain and eventually most of the British Empire. The original London mint from which the Royal Mint is the successor, was established in 886 AD and operated within the Tower of London for approximately 800 years before moving to what is now called Royal Mint Court where it remained until the 1960s. As Britain followed the rest of the world in decimalising its currency, the Mint moved from London to a new plant in Llantrisant, Wales where it
Royal Mint products included a hip flask with an embedded £2 coin, an Edinburgh Crystal clock combined with a millennium Crown, and a Wedgwood plate featuring Britannia. In 2007 the Mint decided to resume its focus on coins, downsizing non-coin related business and discontinuing its Classics range. After London was selected to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, the Royal Mint successfully won its bid to manufacture the games' Olympic and Paralympic medals. 4,700 gold, sliver and bronze medals were produced by the Mint with each medal being struck 15 times with 900 tonnes of force. In addition to securing the medal