National memorial to Queen Elizabeth approved

A national memorial honouring Queen Elizabeth II is set to be built in St James's Park after securing planning permission.

The statue of the late Queen who died in 2022, will be placed at Marlborough Gate, the entrance to the park. A companion statue of Prince Philip, who died in 2021, will accompany the Queen's monument.

To make way for the principal statue, the Grade II listed Marlborough Gate will be dismantled and re-erected "in modified form" further south.

The plans from the Cabinet Office were unanimously approved by Westminster City Council's planning sub-committee earlier.

The Blue Bridge, which crosses the lake, will be replaced by a wider tiara-inspired model designed by architect firm Foster & Partners, which designed the Millennium Bridge, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

There will also be a memorial path and a bronze wind sculpture in honour of the Commonwealth by Yinka Shonibare decorated with flowers and plants from each of the 56 member nations.

A bust of Queen Elizabeth II will also be installed at the Birdcage Walk entrance to the park.

The scheme also includes a memorial path through UK and Commonwealth Gardens designed by Michel Desvigne and a children's "discovery trail" which will include "storytelling elements" for young people.

The Grade II listed drinking fountain The Boy will be moved to the western end of the park near the children's playground.

Cathy Jones, who represented the Queen Anne's Gate Residents' Association, told the committee a memorial of this scale which would "fundamentally change" the character of the green space and "split the park into zones".

She said: "We fully support the principle of a national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II but what we cannot support is the detrimental impact on St James's Park of this proposal in this location of this scale."

A Westminster City Council report said the project would cause harm to the park due to the loss of trees and changes to listed structures but found this would be "fully outweighed" by the public benefits of the scheme.

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