In all fairness, the confusing currency thing was hardly an English invention.
During the 18th Century, when crowns, pounds and guineas were all still widely used in England, the French "improved" their own situation thusly:
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[*][url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_(coin)"]Louis d'or[/url] (gold coin) = 24 livres, along with a half-Louis coin (the [i]demi-louis d'or[/i]) and a two-Louis coin (the [i]double louis d'or[/i]) (12 and 48 livres).
[*][url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cu_(coin)"]écu[/url] (silver coin) = 6 livres = 120 sols, along with [sup]1[/sup]⁄[sub]2[/sub], [sup]1[/sup]⁄[sub]4[/sub] and [sup]1[/sup]⁄[sub]8[/sub] écu denominations (60, 30 and 15 sols)
[*]copper coins of 1 and 2 [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidus_(coin)"]sols[/url]: 1 sol = 12 deniers
[*]6 and 3 [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denier_(coin)"]deniers[/url] (the latter also called a [i]liard[/i]) were also issued.
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Confused? If you're not, then you weren't paying attention. Incidentally, a French livre was the thing most closely related to an English pound, although exchange rates moved up and down quite freely then too.