The competition to design a Memorial to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother presented an opportunity for me to work in partnership with the sculptor Philip Jackson and with the architects, Donald Insall Associates. Our winning submission involved redesigning an existing staircase by Louis de Soissons that connects the Mall to Carlton Terrace Gardens. This was carefully remodelled to allow for the addition of a new statue, by Philip Jackson, and two monumental reliefs.
The unusual artistic challenge of this monument was to create an appropriate relationship between the existing statue of King George the VI by William McMillan and Philip Jackson’s Queen Elizabeth.
While the two principal statues signal the Memorial’s concerns from afar, my reliefs are there to paint a more intimate and familiar portrait of our late King and Queen, to provide interesting detail for visitors to study. One frieze reunites the Royal couple during the defining moments of the Second World War while the other is an affectionate portrayal of the Queen as Queen Mother, showing her passions and interests.
