The Queen Mother was a regular racegoer

The Queen is to unveil a bronze statue of her late mother at Cheltenham Racecourse

The statue, a head study by Angela Conner, was commissioned by her patron, the Duke of Devonshire.

It will be unveiled in the winners' enclosure on Thursday, March 13 before the racing starts and will be displayed permanently in a location close to the Royal Box.

'Popular idea'

The Queen Mother regularly attended the Cheltenham Festival, which hosts the race named in her honour, the Queen Mother Champion Chase, on the Wednesday of the meeting.

The Queen will be attending the festival this year for the first time since 1951.

Race course managing director, Edward Gillespie, said: "Following the death of the Queen Mother in April, we invited people to suggest how best they would like Cheltenham to remember her.

"Far and away the most popular idea was for there to be a statue and we are enormously grateful to the Duke of Devonshire for allowing Angela Conner to work on this project."