Queen Elizabeth II memorial to feature statue of late monarch from early years of her reign as new details emerge

Ben McCaffrey
Mon, 20 Apr 2026 21:43:42 +0000

The new memorial to the late Queen Elizabeth II in St James's Park will feature a statue of the late monarch as a young woman.

Plans were revealed during the commemorations for what would be the late Queen's 100th birthday on April 21.

The striking bronze sculpture depicting the Queen in her 20s, which forms the centrepiece of the tribute, will stand at 7.3 metres tall and draws inspiration from Pietro Annigoni's celebrated 1955 portrait.

Annigoni's painting captures the young monarch staring into the distance in a powerful yet composed manner.

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The statue, which will portray the late Queen dressed in the robes of the Order of the Garter, will stand overlooking The Mall and be situated at the entrance to the memorial.

Lord Janvrin, the Queen’s former private secretary and 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 described the Annigni portrait, painted when the late Queen was just 28, as a "lovely, iconic image of the young Queen".

The St James's Park tribute has been designed by legendary architect Lord Foster and will include a new glass bridge, likely to be called the Queen Elizabeth Bridge, replacing the existing Blue Bridge spanning the park's lake, and a sculpture of Prince Philip.

Luis Matania, senior partner at Foster + Partners, described the innovative approach: "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."

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The King, Queen Camilla and other senior royals are scheduled to view scale models of the proposed statues during a visit to the British Museum on Tuesday, marking the centenary commemorations.

The memorial is one of three projects underway in memory of the late Queen with a new charity, The Queen Elizabeth Trust, and a Digital Memorial also launched on Tuesday.

The charitable trust will work to transform community spaces across Britain, inspired by the late Queen's frequent Christmas broadcast reflections on the importance of local neighbourhoods.

Sir Damon Buffini, the trust's chairman, praised the monarch's "absolute belief in community".

The digital archive at Queenelizabeth.com will collect public memories of the Queen, with contributions already recorded from figures including Olympian Tom Daley.

Mr Daley recalled: "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."