The Queen Elizabeth II Memorial in London Begins to Take Shape

Her statue will be prominently situated but not in the shadow of the massive Queen Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace

The Unveiling of the Queen Victoria Memorial, 16 May 1911, by Sydney Prior Hall

I’ve been in England for more than a month, and I’ve found myself periodically imagining what the memorial honoring the historic 70-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II could look like. I have heard reports from various people, all of which have raised my expectations. Those thoughts intensified over the last several days—first when I visited the splendid new exhibition at the King’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace, “The Edwardians: Age of Elegance,” and then the following day when I took a private tour of the East Wing of the Palace and made a surprising discovery (which I’ll describe below) while gazing through the double glass doors that open onto the famous balcony.

“A rare view of the new monument”

The Edwardians exhibit includes a dramatic painting depicting the unveiling of the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace on May 16, 1911. The huge marble structure—104 feet in diameter and 82 feet high— had been commissioned by her son King Edward VII, who took the throne on her death in January 1901, to commemorate her 63-year reign. By the time the statue was ready, Edward VII had died and his son, George V, had been monarch since May 6, 1910. The painting shows George V reviewing the troops with his cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia. The exhibition label explains that Hall’s painting “provides a rare view of the new monument juxtaposed against the mid-nineteenth century Caen stone façade of Buckingham Palace, which had decayed and darkened by this time.”

The Marlborough Gate and St. James’s Park as seen from The Mall in Central London

In September 2024, two years after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the British government announced preliminary plans for her memorial to be built at an estimated cost between £23 million and £46 million, to be financed by public funds. The location will be in front of the Marlborough Gate at the edge of St. James’s Park on The Mall in central London. The more I have looked at the site and pondered its physical as well as historical context, the more perfect it seems. Yet challenges lie ahead.