The national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II in London's St James's Park will feature a bronze statue of the late monarch as a young woman, inspired by a famous portrait. The final masterplan was unveiled on what would have been her 100th birthday, Tuesday, 21 April.
The 7.3-metre-high statue, designed by sculptor Martin Jennings, depicts the Queen in her 20s wearing the robes of the Order of the Garter. It takes inspiration from Pietro Annigoni's 1955 portrait, for which the Queen sat at Buckingham Palace in late 1954. The statue will stand at the entrance to the park in a new civic space called Queen Elizabeth II Place.
A smaller statue of Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, will be positioned 20 metres behind the Queen, a few paces back as was his usual position. The 3.8-metre-high figure shows Philip in his Admiral-of-the-Fleet uniform, looking up at his wife. The memorial will also include a new translucent glass bridge, inspired by the Queen's wedding tiara, and a bust of the Queen in her later years at the Birdcage Walk end.
The memorial, designed by architect Lord Foster, is expected to be completed in 2028. King Charles praised the design as “fantastic” when viewing a scale model at the British Museum on the late Queen's 100th birthday.
