The Culture Secretary has hailed the Platinum Jubilee medal as a fitting tribute to the sacrifices of the Armed Forces, emergency services and others who will receive the award marking the Queen’s 70-year reign.

The design of the medal has been revealed and Nadine Dorries was given the first glimpse when on Thursday she visited the Birmingham workshop of the company commissioned with making the items.

Ms Dorries was taken on a guided tour of the process, from the coin-shaped pieces of metal called “blanks” being stamped with the design to tiny ribbon holders soldered to the pieces, and saw the final finished medals in their presentation boxes.

After trying her hand at stamping a few medals, the Culture Secretary said: “This medal is to be awarded to those people who’ve worked for our emergency frontline services, our soldiers, and others who served us throughout the years.

“So it’s actually a fitting medal, it’s beautiful, and I think everybody who is going to be awarded one of these can feel very privileged and honoured.

“We’ve been through such a lot as a nation, it’s been a really torrid time everyone’s been through over the past 20 months.

The medal
Worcestershire Medal Service chief executive Phil McDermott with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal (Joe Giddens/PA)

“I think looking forward, 2022 is going to be a year when everyone can put that behind us and we can celebrate the Commonwealth Games, Festival UK, the Queen’s Jubilee and the extended Bank Holiday Weekend to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee.”

Timothy Noad from the College of Arms designed the medal, made of nickel silver, which features the Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of the Queen with the Latin inscription “Elizabeth II Dei Gratia Regina Fid Def” – Elizabeth II, By the Grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith.

On the reverse is the heraldic image of the royal crest and the years of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – 1952-2022.

Medals have been awarded to mark royal jubilees since the Victorian period when the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign was commemorated in 1887 with a medal.

Rings to hold ribbons are soldered to Platinum Jubilee medals (Joe Giddens/PA)

In recent decades, medals have been issued to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, Golden Jubilee in 2002 and Silver Jubilee in 1977.

Phil McDermott, chief executive officer of the Worcestershire Medal Service, the firm producing around 400,000 Platinum Jubilee medals, said the order was a welcome boost following the Covid crisis.

He said: “It means a lot of job security for people, we’re actually creating jobs as well, which is a terrific story having come through the pandemic.”

Mr McDermott explained how he designed the distinctive ribbon for the medal commemorating the Queen’s 70-year reign: “I submitted a few ribbon designs and I was fortunate that they picked one.

“It combines some of the previous medals so the design is a nod to the Coronation medal – same layers, slightly different structure – and then I put silver stripes on the edge to mark the Silver Jubilee, the centre stripe is the blue from the Golden Jubilee ribbon, and the red is from the Diamond Jubilee.”

Medals will be awarded to living recipients of the Victoria and George Crosses and serving frontline members of the police, fire, emergency services, prison services and Armed Forces who have completed five years service on February 6 2022, the start of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.