Norman Foster says Newman will bring a ’profound sense of dignity to the work’
The committee overseeing the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II has appointed sculptor Karen Newman to design a second statue of the late monarch.
The sculpture will mark the entrance to the planned memorial site on Birdcage Walk in St James’s Park in central London, the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee said.
It is intended to complement a larger statue of Queen Elizabeth designed by Martin Jennings which will be situated on The Mall.
The wider £46m memorial project is being designed by Foster + Partners, which beat a high-profile shortlist of rival bidders including Heatherwick Studio and Wilkinson Eyre to win the job in a competition last year.
Newman’s previous commissions during her five-decade career include statues of Second World War heroines Noor Inayat Khan, Violette Szabo, Nancy Wake, and sculpted portraits of poet WH Auden and actor Charles Dance.
She also worked for twenty years as a sculptor for Madame Tussauds, where she sculpted wax portrait figures of Prince Philip, former prime ministers Harold Wilson and Tony Blair and several stars from the entertainment industries.
Newman said: “It is a huge honour to be asked to contribute my work to the Memorial for Queen Elizabeth II. She was an iconic and unifying figure in our national story. I am very much looking forward to portraying the strong and complex personality of our late Queen.
“My approach will be to combine elements of her life in the sculpture, showing her both as an icon and as an individual. I’m very happy to be working alongside the excellent sculptor Martin Jennings, Fosters + Partners the Architects and the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Committee.”
Foster + Partners founder Norman Foster said: “It is a pleasure to welcome Karen Newman as sculptor for The Queen’s statue at Birdcage Walk.
“Her talent and sensitivity will bring a profound sense of dignity to the work, and I look forward to collaborating closely with her and the team in the months ahead.”
Along with the two statues of the Queen, the scheme will feature a series of gardens running through St James’s Park dedicated to the Commonwealth and communities of the UK and a new Prince Philip gate.
These spaces will be linked by a network of paths and a new bridge, replacing the existing 1950s Blue Bridge which crosses the park’s lake.
The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee has also revealed more details about Jennings’ plan for his statue, which will depict the monarch in a standing position and not seated on a horse as previously proposed.
Jennings said: “After careful research and thought, my design for the Queen’s monument will emphasise her role as Head of State and proudly follows a sculptural tradition that shows kings and queens from the House of Windsor in standing position.”
Jennings will also sculpt a statue of Prince Philip which will be situated close to his statue of Queen Elizabeth.
The final designs for the National Memorial will be unveiled in April 2026, to coincide with what would have been Queen Elizabeth’s hundredth birthday.
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