Lord Robin Janvrin announced on June 24 the result of the competition organized for the memorial in honor of Queen Elizabeth II. The Foster + Partners agency has been appointed winner, faced with several other proposals.
The disappearance of the Queen, which occurred in September 2022 after seventy years of reign, left a lasting imprint in the British imagination. A competition was launched, under the direction of Malcolm Reading Consultants, a company specializing in the management of architecture competitions. The site retained for the installation of the memorial is the St James’s park, in central London. According to Lord Janvrin, the president of Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee, the independent body responsible for designing and recommending the proposals for the memorial, it was to be about“A place to visit with friends, a space of contemplation and conviviality, a reflection of an extraordinary life” (World Architects).
In February 2025, five teams were selected to put detailed plans. The process included a public consultation and the opinion of experts in architecture, heritage and engineering. It is therefore the project of Foster + Partners which was selected, because of its sobriety and its consistency with the memory of the sovereign.
Inspired by the life of Elizabeth II, the agency designed a landscaping route from The Mall, near Marlborough Gate, to Walk Birdcage, via a new bridge. The latter will replace the current Blue Bridge and will take the name of Tiara Bridgein reference to the tiara carried by the Queen during her marriage. It will be made of glass, with decorative balustrades reminiscent of the crown.
The project also provides for the development of two gardens and two monumental portals, the first dedicated to the United Kingdom, the second to the Commonwealth. One of the portals will resume the Prince Philip Gatethe other will include an equestrian statue of the Queen. The whole will aim to embody the unity that Elizabeth II symbolized throughout his reign.
The memorial will integrate artistic and landscape elements, designed in collaboration with the British artist Yinka Shonibare and the landscaper Michel Desvigne. In particular, it will include sculptures, vegetated arrangements and a sound installation diffusing the Queen’s voice. Particular attention will be paid to the ecological impact of the whole, with construction methods that respect the park ecosystem.
The budget amounts to 46 million pounds sterling (around 54 million euros). The final plan is expected for April 2026, when Elizabeth II would have celebrated her hundredth anniversary. If no official site date has yet been announced, the committee hopes for an inauguration between 2026 and 2027. The name of the sculptor in charge of the statues should be revealed during the year 2025.
Founded in 1967, the Foster + Partners agency is one of the most recognized international architectural firms. Based in London, it is notably at the origin of the 30 St Mary Ax (the Gherkin), from the Apple Park to Cupertino and the Millau viaduct.
