STATUES AND GLASS BRIDGE DESIGN CHOSEN FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH MEMORIAL – St James’s Park was chosen as the best site to pay tribute to her reign
A memorial to honour Queen Elizabeth in London’s St James’s Park will feature a statue of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch on horseback, another of her arm-in-arm with her husband, Prince Philip and a glass bridge, the project committee said.
St James’s Park, which is located opposite Buckingham Palace, was chosen as the best site to pay tribute to her reign, and under the plan announced, the park will be reshaped, with two new areas of gardens and two new gates.
The committee chose the plans drawn up by Foster + Partners, a firm headed by Norman Foster, one of Britain’s most influential architects, who is known for the Gherkin building in London’s financial district and the Reichstag dome in Berlin.
The new glass bridge is inspired by the tiara she wore at her wedding, while the two gates and two gardens reflect the way Elizabeth balanced tradition and modernity, public duty and private faith, and Britain and the Commonwealth, Foster said.
The design will be finalised by April 2026, and the memorial could be completed one to two years after that, Foster said.
