The Queen Mother’s Memorial

And so at last London gets a memorial of the Queen Mother that’s more than a few wirey gates, dented from an argument with a lorry. As well as the new statue of a young Queen Elizabeth, there’ll be bronze reliefs showing scenes from the Queen Mother’s life placed alongside it, depicting both the war role the Queen Mother played and her later years as Grandmother of the nation.

The memorial will be unveiled by the Queen this afternoon in view of her family, friends and the world’s press. It’s said to have cost £2m and was funded by the sale of commemorative £5 coins, specially minted for Her Majesty The Queen’s birthday. It’s taken some time to complete and one hopes it doesn’t go the way of a marble statue of Margaret Thatcher that was decapitated in protest in 2002. It seems to be the week for tributes; Gordon Brown has apparantly just paid £100,000 to artist Richard Stone to paint a portrait of Lady T for the newly christened “Thatcher Room” in Downing Street. Oooh er.

Filed under Historical Royals, The United Kingdom
Tagged Memorial, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.