As MPs and Buckingham Palace prepare to decide how to commemorate the late monarch’s unprecedented 70-year reign, a statue of the Queen may become a permanent fixture atop the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.
There is now just one full-size statue of Her Majesty in the whole United Kingdom, and it was placed there in 2002 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee. It is located in Windsor Great Park.
There have been no negotiations for a fresh homage before her Monday state funeral, so any such preparations won’t be made public until after the official time of grief.
According to a government source, “This is something that we do want to evaluate very thoroughly in the fullness of time.”
Renaming streets, parks, racetracks, and even London’s Heathrow, the airport where she flew back to Britain from Kenya as Queen Elizabeth II after the death of her father George VI in 1952, are all alternatives that are being examined.
The fourth pillar in Trafalgar Square, which has been purposefully left empty for the previous 20 years, will most likely serve as the site of the monument.
Since 1998, the plinth has been the site of a series of often strange and eccentric art pieces, such as a big bronze thumbs-up and an ice cream with a fly on it.
However, as former London mayor Ken Livingstone said in 2013, “The assumption is that the fourth plinth is being saved for Queen Elizabeth II,” it is expected to include a more permanent statue in the near future.
The plinth, a large block of stone made up of slabs, was designed to support an equestrian statue of William IV, who passed away in 1837, but it remained empty owing to a lack of funding.
Many now consider it the perfect location for a monument of the Queen on horseback – comparable to the one placed in Windsor 20 years ago – despite the fact that its destiny was contested for more than 150 years before it started soliciting artwork in 1998.
The Greater London Authority, which is in charge of the fourth plinth, issued the following statement: “His Majesty the King and the royal family should take into consideration placing a Queen Elizabeth II statue in London at a suitable position.”
The GLA is prepared to assist them achieve their desires.
Each of Trafalgar Square’s four corners has a plinth, featuring statues of Henry Havelock and Charles James Napier—both British Army Major Generals who led wars in India in the 18th and 19th centuries—on the two southern blocks.
Its two northern plinths, which are bigger and intended for equestrian sculptures, presently house a bronze statue of George IV, who passed away in 1828, riding bareback while clothed in classical Roman garb.
However, some lawmakers contend that the empty fourth plinth’s placement is “not sufficiently visible,” urging the erection of any monument or tribute to the Queen in Parliament Square, away from the Palace of Westminster.
It coincides with plans to partially pedestrianise the area, which means any tribute to the late head of state might end up serving as its focal point.
According to David Jones, the Conservative MP for Clwyd West, “given that Her Majesty was so sensitive to the constitution and the monarch’s relationship with parliament, a statute there would be a suitable monument.”
It must be visible enough, and in my opinion, being one of just four sculptures in Trafalgar Square is insufficient. Her statue cannot be placed underneath that of Lord Nelson.
The reign of Queen Elizabeth II, according to Mr. Jones, may be remembered in “a number of ways.”