National Memorial to Queen Elizabeth II Unveiled with Statue in St James's Park
A national memorial honouring the late Queen Elizabeth II will feature a striking bronze statue of the monarch as a young woman, 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 newly designated space named Queen Elizabeth II Place.
Design and Inspiration
The statue has been designed by the renowned architect Lord Norman Foster and draws inspiration from a famous 1955 portrait of Elizabeth by Italian artist Pietro Annigoni. The Queen sat for Annigoni at Buckingham Palace in late 1954 when she was just 28 years old, and the Renaissance-style painting captures her a few years into her reign, draped in her weighty Garter robes and gazing into the distance without a tiara.
Accompanying the Queen's statue will be a smaller bronze figure of Prince Philip in his Naval uniform, depicted at a similar age. The duke is shown standing with both arms behind his back, a posture he often adopted, and looking up at his wife of more than 70 years from a few paces behind her.
Memorial Features and Location
To make way for the statues, Grade II listed Marlborough Gate will be dismantled and re-erected in a modified form. A glass unity bridge, inspired by the late Queen's wedding tiara, will replace the current Blue Bridge. The memorial will also include a dedicated path and a bronze wind sculpture honouring the Commonwealth, featuring plants from each of the 56 member nations.
Lord Janvrin, chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee and the Queen's former private secretary, explained the design choices. '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,' he said. '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.'
Royal Involvement and Digital Memorial
King Charles, Queen Camilla, and other members of the royal family viewed models of the planned statues and plans for the wider memorial at the British Museum on Tuesday, as part of events commemorating the Queen's centenary. The appearance of both statues will be further refined during the sculpting process, with completion expected by 2028.
In addition to the physical memorial, a Digital Memorial was launched to create a living archive of public memories of the Queen. This project will digitise the Court Circular, the daily record of official royal engagements, and map key events from her reign. The public can contribute recollections via the website Queenelizabeth.com, which was donated by luxury cruise line Cunard after a request from the digital memorial team.
Joe Garner, a committee member specialising in the digital memorial, highlighted its potential. 'We could create the most phenomenal archive,' he said, suggesting it could expand to include cinefilm and photos from the public globally. Already, recorded memories from celebrities like Olympian Tom Daley and artist Dame Tracey Emin feature on the site, with Daley recalling being told off for sitting on the Queen's throne as a teenager.
Broader Context
The statue is one of three projects underway in honour of the Queen, alongside the new charity, The Queen Elizabeth Trust, and the Digital Memorial. This comprehensive tribute aims to celebrate her legacy and the enduring partnership with Prince Philip, who died in 2021 after 73 years of marriage. The memorial's location in St James's Park ensures it remains a prominent part of London's ceremonial landscape for generations to come.
