Major changes have been announced to the national memorial
\nhonouring the late Queen Elizabeth II, with planners confirming the
\nmain statue will show the monarch standing rather than on
\nhorseback.<\/p>\n
The memorial, which will be built in St James\u2019s Park in central
\nLondon near Buckingham Palace, will feature three statues,
\ncommemorative gardens and a bridge with a tiara-inspired glass
\nbalustrade.<\/p>\n
Earlier illustrations had depicted the Queen riding a horse,
\nreflecting her lifelong love of equestrianism. However, the
\nmemorial committee and the Cabinet Office have now confirmed that
\nthe final design will instead portray her standing.<\/p>\n
The showcase statue, located beside The Mall near Marlborough
\nGate, will be created by sculptor Martin Jennings. He said the
\ndecision followed careful research.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter careful thought, my design will emphasise her role as
\nhead of state and proudly follows a sculptural tradition that shows
\nkings and queens from the House of Windsor in a standing position,\u201d
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Officials stressed that the earlier horse-riding images were
\nproduced only to demonstrate scale, layout and location, and were
\nnever intended to represent the final design.<\/p>\n
The statue will be situated close to existing memorials to the
\nQueen\u2019s parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, both of whom
\nare shown standing in formal robes.<\/p>\n
A statue of Prince Philip will also be placed nearby.<\/p>\n
The committee has also announced that a second, smaller
\nsculpture will be created by artist Karen Newman, who previously
\nworked as a wax sculptor at Madame Tussauds. Among her past work
\nare likenesses of Prince Philip, former prime minister Sir Tony
\nBlair, actor Charles Dance and musician Roger Daltrey, as well as
\nmemorials to Second World War heroines Noor Inayat Khan and
\nViolette Szabo.<\/p>\n
Newman said it was \u201ca great honour\u201d to be involved in the
\nproject.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was an iconic and unifying figure in our national story. I
\nam very much looking forward to portraying the strong and complex
\npersonality of our late Queen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The overall memorial design is being led by architect Lord
\nNorman Foster, who said Newman\u2019s \u201ctalent and sensitivity will bring
\na profound sense of dignity to the work\u201d.<\/p>\n
King Charles has been kept informed of the plans and consulted
\non developments. The final design is expected to be made public in
\nApril 2026, to coincide with the centenary of Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s
\nbirth.<\/p>\n
The project is expected to cost between \u00a323 million and \u00a346
\nmillion. The proposed budget has drawn criticism from the
\nanti-monarchy group Republic, which has argued that the royal
\nfamily, rather than the government, should fund the monument.<\/p>\n
Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022, becoming the longest-reigning
\nmonarch in British history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Major changes have been announced to the national memorial honouring the late Queen Elizabeth II, with planners confirming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-110984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}