The Cabinet Office has announced plans to create a suitable tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of the monarch’s reign ahead of the first anniversary of her death this Friday.
The plans for a permanent memorial to the late Queen and a national legacy programme in her honour will be unveiled in 2026 to honour what would have been Elizabeth II’s hundredth birthday.
The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee will consider and suggest recommendations for a fitting tribute to the nation’s longest-reigning monarch following her death on September 8, 2022.
The Cabinet Office said that the initiative will be jointly supported by the UK Government and the Royal Household, with Lord Robin Janvrin, the late Queen’s former private secretary, appointed as chairman.
The independent body set up to create the honour will consider Elizabeth II’s life of public service and the causes she supported and will seek guidance from the public.
The Government said it will support the proposals and evaluate funding options, with any plans to be unveiled to coincide with what would have been the Queen’s hundredth birthday in 2026.
Senior figures and experts are set to be assigned to the committee to develop ideas and bring their suggestions to the King and Prime Minister.
Lord Janvrin said that it was an honour to be asked to chair the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee.
He said that it would be a unique challenge to try to capture for future generations Her Late Majesty’s extraordinary contribution to our national life throughout her very long reign.
Lord Janvrin is a trusted figure who worked at Buckingham Palace in various positions from 1987 to 2007. He was honoured in 2007 and sits as a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said that Queen Elizabeth II was our longest-reigning monarch and greatest public servant.
He said that Lord Janvrin will now begin the important work of designing a fitting tribute to her legacy of service to our nation and the Commonwealth.
The late Queen unveiled a statue of her father George VI on The Mall in 1955, while a statue of The Queen Mother was pitched nearby in 2009.
After the death of George VI in 1952, funding was raised for grants to community organisations working to improve the well-being of young and elderly people, including the creation of day centres and clubs.
Let’s hope this statue is a fitting one, unlike the catastrophe that was Princess Diana’s, and why does everything in this country take so long? Just unveil the plans and get on with it – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to draw up the plans for a statue, and at least that way our Queen will never be forgotten.
Queen Victoria had many lovely statues all over the country and so should Queen Elizabeth II. I’d like to remember her as she was before she died, with her walking stick and cardigan on, and then perhaps some younger ones of her around the country.
Nobody is around forever and a statue is a lasting memorial that reminds future generations of who this woman was. Her statue should either be in Westminster or The Mall looking towards Buckingham Palace, and some of her beloved Corgis would be amazing, just to display the real person that was our Queen.
Here’s another good idea – the Queen Elizabeth Medal, the QEM, for public service (charity work et cetera), which would rank above an OBE.
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