An architect who once criticised the King has won the bid to design a memorial in honour of his late mother Queen Elizabeth II.
Lord Norman Foster will oversee the replacement of the current bridge in St James’s Park with a “very light touch” glass one, inspired by the tiara the Queen wore on her wedding day.
He will also transform the wider park with a statue of the Queen in a new space called Queen Elizabeth II Place at Marlborough Gate, a new Prince Philip Gate on the other side at Birdcage Walk, complete with a statue of the late Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen together, and a “family of gardens” around the new bridge.
Lord Foster, known for designing The Gherkin, accused King Charles of using his “privileged position” to intervene in the plans for the former Chelsea Barracks in 2009.
The then Prince of Wales, a fan of more traditional architecture, allegedly wrote to the Qatari developers requesting more classical plans be considered over those submitted by Lord Foster.
But in an interview with on Monday, the architect said the pair are now “totally aligned”.
He insisted his previous “minor differences” with the King were in the past and “absolutely insignificant” as part of the bigger picture.
Bridge to reflect Queen’s ‘unifying nature’
The translucent “unity” bridge will represent the late monarch’s ability to bring nations, communities, and the Commonwealth together.
“The Queen encompassed, historically, periods of significant change, socially and technologically, but it was all very much with a light touch, and that light touch, the feeling should be that if you visit St James’s Park and the site in question later, it will still feel very familiar,” Lord Foster told the Press Association.
It will be wider than the current stone bridge, allowing more visitors to enjoy the surrounding gardens, he added.
“It will feel better. It won’t be so crowded, although this number of people will be going through it, and the experience will be heightened, but it won’t be ‘Oh, my god, they’ve destroyed the tradition of this park’.”
Described by the designer as “jewel-like”, the bridge’s cast-glass balustrades will be inspired by the Queen Mary Fringe diamond tiara the then Princess Elizabeth wore on her wedding day to Prince Philip in 1947.
The antique metal frame famously snapped as she was getting ready that morning and had to be rushed to the jewellers Garrard to be fixed before the ceremony.
It was of great sentimental value to the Queen, who loaned it to her granddaughter Princess Beatrice to wear on her wedding day in 2020.
Lord Foster plans for the bridge to be illuminated at night and be floated down the River Thames before being installed seamlessly overnight – without the need for heavy building work.
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The overall plans for the bridge, statues and gardens reflect the late monarch’s “formal and informal” sides, he said.
Lord Foster, who was appointed to the Order of Merit by the Queen in 1997 for his services to architecture, said: “Like many, I knew the Queen through formal occasions, but there was this very special relationship between Her Majesty and those of us who were members of the Order of Merit.
“So we were privileged to see perhaps a more informal aspect of Her Majesty and in many ways that is mirrored in our design.
“It is in some ways formal in its relationship to The Mall and informal in the gardens, and the perhaps breaking down those barriers in terms of narrative storytelling.”
Statue of couple to convey their ‘inseparability’
On his decision to include the late duke in his vision for the memorial, he said: “We showed them together and, in a way, there was this inseparable quality which we sought to convey.”
The Queen’s former private secretary Lord Janvrin, chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee responsible for awarding the commission for the bridge, hailed the design’s “sensitivity”.
He suggested the Queen would have particularly liked the representation of her tiara.
“Her Majesty would undoubtedly have liked the location and I think she would have picked up that echo of the tiara in the bridge,” Lord Janvrin said.
“I think the planting would have been of huge interest to her and the contrast between formal and informal – and the Commonwealth area would have resonated with her.”
He said it was fitting that someone who knew the Queen had been chosen to design the national memorial to her.
“She knew him personally and made him a member of the Order of Merit, which is a personal gift way back in the late 1990s,” he said.
“So, in a way, I think the fact that he has been this hugely important figure during her reign is deeply appropriate to end up with this extraordinarily important assignment at this stage.”
He added that it “wouldn’t have surprised him” if the King had already seen the design.
The final plan will be unveiled in 2026 – the late Queen’s 100th birthday year.
Next, a sculptor will be appointed for the two statues. There are also plans for potential audio installations of the Queen’s voice.
Foster + Partners won the competition after being selected by the memorial committee from five shortlisted designs, with feedback taken from a public vote, as well as stakeholders and cultural experts.
The winning team also includes artist Yinka Shonibare, ecologist Professor Nigel Dunnett, who was behind the Superbloom planting scheme in the Tower of London’s moat to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, and landscape architect Michel Desvigne Paysagiste.
