The King and Queen have begun a poignant day of commemorations marking what would have been Queen Elizabeth II’s 100th birthday.
Charles and Camilla arrived at the British Museum this morning to view final models of the national memorial to the late Queen.
They were joined at the event on the centenary of Elizabeth II’s birth by the under-fire Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who greeted the King with a broad smile and a handshake and then also was seen to pat Camilla on the top of her arm.
The Royal Family is later set to gather at a special reception at Buckingham Palace in honour of the nation’s longest reigning monarch, who died aged 96 in 2022.
The King, in a video message, has paid a heartfelt tribute to his ‘darling Mama’, but said much of life today would likely have ‘troubled her deeply’.
He said he took heart from her belief that ‘goodness will prevail’ and that a ‘brighter dawn is never far from the horizon’, and said the milestone anniversary should be celebrated as a ‘life well-lived’ rather than marking an ‘absence’.
Among those at the museum to show the masterplan to the King and Queen was renowned architect Lord Foster, who won the bid to design the permanent memorial to the King’s late mother.
Lord Foster famously once criticised the King when he was the Prince of Wales for using his ‘privileged position’ to intervene in the architectural development of the former Chelsea Barracks.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla with architect Lord Foster as they attend a presentation on the final design for the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II at the British Museum today
King Charles III and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer shake hands at the British Museum today
King Charles arrives for the event at the British Museum to remember Queen Elizabeth II today
Queen Camilla arrives to view design recommendations for the Queen Elizabeth II memorial
King Charles III is greeted by George Osborne at the British Museum in London this morning
King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend the viewing of the design recommendations today
King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive at the British Museum to view the final design
Other guests included artist Tracey Emin, broadcaster Claudia Winkleman, designer Erdem Moralioglu and presenter Martha Kearney, who are all trustees of the museum.
The King was shown a likeness of his mother, in the form of a maquette which depicts Elizabeth II as a young woman in her 20s in her Order of the Garter robes in the early years of her reign.
Another of his father Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, around the same age, in his naval uniform with his hands behind his back, was also on show.
Full-scale versions of the statues by sculptor Martin Jennings will form part of the permanent memorial in St James’s Park, close to Buckingham Palace.
The area will also incorporate a new Queen Elizabeth Bridge in glass and steel inspired by the Queen’s wedding tiara, a family of gardens with meandering paths, a Commonwealth Wind Sculpture by artist Yinka Shonibare, and a bust of the Queen in her 50s or 60s by sculptor Karen Newman on Birdcage Walk.
Other members of the Royal Family – the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester – gathered in the museum’s circular Reading Room today to see the scale model of the park, featuring tiny trees and people and the new additions.
Under-fire Prime Minister Sir Keir also attended the event – as did London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan.
The Prime Minister stepped from his car where he was met by the museum’s chair, former Conservative chancellor George Osborne, and Nicholas Cullinan, director of the museum.
Sir Keir smiled and shook hands with Mr Osborne and ignored shouted questions from the media about Peter Mandelson.
He replied with ‘morning’ to shouts from photographers as he made his way up the steps of the grand building.
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh arrive at the British Museum to view the final design
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh arrive at the British Museum in London this morning
Prince Edward and Sophie, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, at the British Museum today
The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester arrive at the British Museum in London this morning
Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester attends the viewing of the design recommendations today
Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester attends the viewing event at the British Museum today
Sir Keir is in the midst of the scandal surrounding Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador.
The former top official at the Foreign Office Sir Olly Robbins said this morning that there was a ‘dismissive approach’ to Lord Mandelson’s security vetting from Sir Keir’s No 10.
Sir Olly, who was sacked by the Prime Minister last week over the failure to disclose Mandelson’s failed security checks in the granting of his developed vetting (DV) clearance, said there was pressure from Downing Street to clear the appointment.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister blamed Sir Olly for deliberately keeping him in the dark over Lord Mandelson’s failure to pass security vetting checks before becoming US ambassador.
The national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II will feature a statue of the monarch as a young woman in her Garter robes in the early years of her reign, inspired by a famous portrait.
The final masterplan for the tribute was unveiled today to coincide with what would have been the late Queen’s 100th birthday.
A bronze statue of the Queen in her 20s, dressed in the robes of the Order of the Garter, will stand overlooking The Mall.
It will be located at the entrance to the St James’s Park memorial, which has been designed by Lord Foster, and will feature a family of gardens through the park with meandering paths and a new translucent, glass unity bridge, inspired by the late Queen’s wedding tiara and replacing the current Blue Bridge.
The new bridge is likely to be called the Queen Elizabeth Bridge.
A ‘few paces behind’ the Queen, as was his usual position, will be a smaller statue of her consort Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, in his Naval uniform, looking up at his wife of more than 70 years.
The likeness of the Queen by sculptor Martin Jennings will take inspiration from the celebrated 1955 portrait of Elizabeth II by Italian artist Pietro Annigoni.
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.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer arrives at the British Museum in London to view the final design
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer arrives to view the design for the Queen Elizabeth II memorial
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer arrives at the British Museum in London to view the final design
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with former Conservative chancellor George Osborne today
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan arrives at the British Museum for the viewing event this morning
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan and George Osborne shake hands outside the British Museum
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, with Annigoni having taken influence from a remark the Queen made to him during a sitting about how, as a child, she enjoyed watching people and cars from her window in the Palace.
The statue will stand 7.3 metres high – with the Queen three metres tall on a 4.3-metre plinth – in a new civic space called Queen Elizabeth II Place at Marlborough Gate on the edge of the park.
The smaller companion statue – 3.8 metres in height with a 2.3-metre figure and a 1.5-metre plinth, of the duke will be located 20 metres behind in the park.
Philip will be represented at a similar age, wearing his Admiral-of-the-Fleet uniform.
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.’
Lord Janvrin said the Annigoni portrait was a ‘lovely, iconic image of the young Queen.’
He added: ‘We think probably most people would like to be remembered when they were young.
‘But at the Birdcage Walk end, we will have a bust of the Queen in what I call her later years, not very old, but probably when she was in her fifties, sixties.’
The bust of the more mature Queen will be crafted by artist Karen Newman for the other side of the park.
A statue of Queen Elizabeth II in a model of St James’s Park at a preview at the British Museum
A statue of Queen Elizabeth II in a model of St James’s Park at a preview at the British Museum
A model of St James’s Park in London during a preview for the Queen Elizabeth exhibition
A statue of Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, during a preview for the exhibition
A statue of Queen Elizabeth II during a preview for the exhibition at the British Museum
Charles, Camilla and other members of the Royal Family viewed maquettes of the planned statues and a scale model of the wider memorial when they visited the museum today.
The figure they saw of Philip, in his uniform, shows the duke standing as he often did with both arms behind his back.
The appearance of both statues will be further refined during the sculpting process.
It is one of three projects under way in honour of Elizabeth II, with a new charity, The Queen Elizabeth Trust, and a Digital Memorial also launched today.
The Digital Memorial aims to create a ‘living archive’ made of the public’s personal memories of her.
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.
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.
The Princess Royal (left) walks with Dr Linda Yeuh, chair of The Royal Parks, during the official opening of The Queen Elizabeth II Garden in London today
The Princess Royal (second left) speaks with members of the gardening team during the official opening of The Queen Elizabeth II Garden in London today
The Princess Royal with blacksmith Ian Thackray (left) and Dr Linda Yeuh, chair of The Royal Parks (right), as she is presented with a gilded metal flower crafted for the site in London
The Princess Royal covers her eyes from the sun during the official opening of The Queen Elizabeth II Garden in London
The Princess Royal (left) walks with Dr Linda Yeuh, chair of The Royal Parks, during the official opening of The Queen Elizabeth II Garden in London today
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.
Luis Matania, senior partner at Foster + Partners who has led on the built memorial, said the steel and glass ‘tiara’ bridge used the latest technologies.
‘This is an opportunity to actually… use the latest technologies we have and do something structurally that still retains the principle of something very delicate, almost a boardwalk that crosses the water, that does not interrupt that beautiful view,’ he said.
Lord Janvrin said: ‘We were very keen to try to convey through all the memorial projects to get across a sense of the Queen’s values, her sense of public service, her sense of devoting herself to us and to serving the nation.’
The Queen Elizabeth Trust is an independent grant-making charity which will work with communities across the UK to transform community spaces to bring local people together across generations.
The idea was inspired by the late Queen’s Christmas broadcasts in which she often spoke of the importance of neighbours and local communities, Lord Janvrin said.
Sir Damon Buffini, chairman of the new trust, said he hoped millions of people would benefit from its future work on the regeneration and support of spaces currently not fit for purpose.
He praised the Queen’s ‘absolute belief in community’, saying: ‘The trust is all about how do you project those (values) into the future where as many people as possible can benefit from that.’
The trust hopes to work on its first project by the end of this year.