Statue of Queen Elizabeth II for nationwide memorial in London is unveiled displaying the late monarch as a younger girl in her Garter robes
A national memorial honouring Queen Elizabeth II will feature a statue of the late monarch as a young woman in her Garter robes.
Unveiled on Tuesday to mark what would have been her 100th birthday, the monument will stand in St James’s Park overlooking The Mall in a new space called Queen Elizabeth II Place.
It will be accompanied by a smaller statue of Prince Philip in his Naval uniform, looking up at his wife of more than 70 years.
The bronze statue has been designed by renowned architect Lord Norman Foster and is inspired by a famous portrait of Elizabeth by Italian artist Pietro Annigoni in 1955.
The Queen sat for Annigoni at Buckingham Palace in late 1954 when she was just 28 and the Renaissance-style painting was completed the following year.
It captures the young monarch, just a few years into her reign, minus a tiara but draped in her weighty Garter robes, composed and gazing into the distance.
Philip will be represented at a similar age, wearing his Admiral-of-the-Fleet uniform. The figure of Philip, in his uniform, shows the duke standing as he often did with both arms behind his back.
Grade II listed Marlborough Gate will be dismantled and re-erected in ‘modified form’ to make way for the statues.
A national memorial honouring Queen Elizabeth II will feature a statue of the late monarch as a young woman in her Garter robes. Pictured: A model of the statue
The figure of Philip, in his uniform, shows the duke standing as he often did with both arms behind his back
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were married for 73 years until his death in 2021
A glass unity bridge, inspired by the late Queen’s wedding tiara, will replace the current Blue Bridge.
There will also be a memorial path and a bronze wind sculpture in honour of the Commonwealth, featuring plants from each of the 56 member nations.
The statue is one of three projects under way in honour of the Queen, with a new charity, The Queen Elizabeth Trust, and a Digital Memorial also launched on Tuesday.
The Queen’s former private secretary Lord Janvrin, chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee said: ‘We thought it was very important that the statue of the Queen, our head of state, was on the ceremonial route in her own right.
‘She will be depicted standing, on her own.
‘But Prince Philip was such an important part – they worked as a team – of the realm that we’ve decided that he should be a few paces behind the Queen – a position he was accustomed to.’
He added: ‘Prince Philip will be looking up because she is on a slightly higher pedestal.’
King Charles, Queen Camilla and other members of the Royal Family will view models of the planned statues and plans of the wider memorial when they visit the British Museum on Tuesday, as part of events commemorating what would have been the Queen’s centenary.
The appearance of both statues will be further refined during the sculpting process.
Meanwhile, the Digital Memorial aims to create a ‘living archive’ made of the public’s personal memories of the Queen.
It will digitise the Court Circular – the daily record of official royal engagements – and bring it to life, mapping key events from the Queen’s reign.
Concept drawing of a statue of the late Queen Elizabeth II which is set to be built in Marlborough Gate in St James’s Park
A companion statue of Prince Phillip will also be erected just a few metres from the late Queen’s monument
The public will be asked to contribute their recollections via the website Queenelizabeth.com – which was previously owned by the luxury cruise line Cunard for the Queen Elizabeth ship, but was donated by the company after a request from the digital memorial.
Joe Garner, the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee member who specialised on the digital memorial, said: ‘We could create the most phenomenal archive.’
He suggested it could develop into adding cinefilm and photos from the public, and would be expanded to map memories from around the globe.
Recorded footage of memories from celebrities including Olympian Tom Daley and artist Dame Tracey Emin already feature on the new site.
Daley recalls how he was told off for sitting on the Queen’s throne, saying: ‘I remember when the Queen came into the room, she always had this incredible presence.
‘I did go and sit on her throne, and I did get told off for that, because at 14 years old, I didn’t realise that you’re not meant to sit on the reigning monarch’s throne.’
The memorial is expected to be completed in 2028.
