When it comes to the forthcoming memorial honoring the life and legacy of the late Queen Elizabeth, “Nothing is off the table,” according to the committee behind the project.
The Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Committee has a budget of up to $57 million for a permanent monument, The Times reported, adding that its design “could include digital technology.” The monument will be located in St. James’s Park.
“We do not want to be prescriptive about this,” said Baroness Amos, the former leader of the House of Lords who is on the memorial committee. “There are a set of guidelines and principles that we have set out. And we are then looking to those artists, those designers, to come up with the best ideas.”
“We want a memorial that is beautiful, that speaks to that legacy, but is also fit for the future,” Amos added.
Queen Elizabeth served a history-making 70 years, taking the throne and serving up until the day she died — Sept. 8, 2022, when she died at 96 years old on her beloved Balmoral estate in Scotland.
The committee is chaired by Lord Robin Janvrin, the late Queen’s former private secretary, and was formed 18 months ago, according to The Times. Since then, members of the committee have visited various parts of the U.K., canvassing public opinion about how to commemorate the Queen’s historic reign — the longest in British history.
“Nothing is off the table,” said Alex Holmes, a member of the committee and deputy chief executive of The Diana Award, the only award named in honor of Princess Diana.
“As a committee we are looking into how digital has revolutionized some of the [U.K.’s] attractions, and whether that’s AI or AR [augmented reality] — [we’re] really fascinated by that,” Holmes added.
The memorial committee will discuss the plans with not just the government but also King Charles and other senior members of the royal family.
“I think it’s unlikely to end up being a sort of metal spike,” said Anna Keay, a historian and member of the committee. “But equally, I think the King’s got much broader taste in terms of design than he’s often given credit for.”
The monument is set to be unveiled on April 21, 2026 — what would have been Queen Elizabeth’s 100th birthday.
“We’re really thinking about what’s going to best do justice to the subject matter, to the age, to the contribution that she made,” Keay said, adding the committee wants to “come up with something that’s really going to live up to the stature of the person that we’re celebrating.”
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Queen Elizabeth’s statue will join iconic landmarks like the Queen Victoria Memorial outside of Buckingham Palace; the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens; a bronze sculpture of King George VI on The Mall unveiled by Queen Elizabeth herself in 1955, just three years after his death; and a statue of his wife, The Queen Mother, unveiled in 2009, seven years after she died in 2002 at 101 years old.
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