More details have emerged about the future memorial to Queen Elizabeth II.
Forget talk of the Fourth Plinth or Parliament Square. Her Late Majesty's memorial will be sited in St James's Park. That much we've known since an announcement by the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee in September 2024. Now the process of finding an architect and designer is officially under way.
"Leading artists, architects and engineers can express their interest in designing the masterplan for the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II," says a press release on behalf of the UK Government. "The Queen Elizabeth Memorial will be one of the most significant design projects in recent British history and will provide the nation with a permanent memorial to the UK’s longest-serving monarch."
Middle of the park
The announcement confirms that the memorial will be sited between the Marlborough Gate and the 'blue bridge' over the lake — somewhere round about here. This would place the Queen's likeness between Buckingham Palace and the statues of her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, who overlook The Mall from the end of Carlton Gardens.
It could be quite substantial. A provisional budget of "£23m-46m excluding VAT" has been set aside for construction alone. A mere statue on a plinth is, perhaps, not enough for our country's longest-serving monarch. The cost will include replacement of the old blue bridge, which isn't exactly elegant.
No time-wasters, please
In the competition announcement, the memorial committee are keen to stress words like "leading" and "experienced". This is very much not a competition that wants to attract "Queeny McQueenFace" entries from the general public. To further make this clear, entrants must put together an interdisciplinary team comprising the following:
Creative Lead (Lead Designer); Contractual Lead (registered in the UK); Architect; Artist; Landscape Architect; Planning Consultant; Heritage Consultant; Structural and M/E/P Engineer; Digital Designer; Project Manager; Cost Consultant
i.e. You can't just boot up Photoshop and knock something together.
We face quite a wait to discover what form the memorial will take. "The final design will be announced to coincide with what would have been Her Late Majesty’s 100th birthday year in 2026, following approval from the Prime Minister and His Majesty The King."
