Final designs for Queen Elizabeth national memorial by Norman Foster and team

The master plan, overseen by the Memorial Committee, for a permanent memorial to Queen Elizabeth in St. James's Park was unveiled today (April 21, 2026) in London. The project and its proposed monuments were reviewed by officials and members of the monarchy on the centenary of Queen Elizabeth II's birth.

The permanent memorial park, designed by Foster + Partners in collaboration with Michel Desvigne Paysagiste, features a new standing statue of Queen Elizabeth overlooking The Mall at Marlborough Gate, close to Buckingham Palace.

Rendering. Queen Elizabeth Memorial Bridge.

The proposal by Foster + Partners features the Queen in an early stage of her reign dressed in the robes of the Order of the Garter, using the famous painting by Pietro Annigoni as an inspiration. Jennings will also sculpt a nearby statue of Prince Philip, the longest-serving consort, at a similar age, wearing a uniform of Admiral-of-the-Fleet.

The permanent memorial will also feature: a new cast-glass bridge inspired by Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara, which was worn by Queen Elizabeth on her wedding day; a bust of the Queen in her later years by sculptor Karen Newman; and The Commonwealth Wind Sculpture, a new abstract work by Yinka Shonibare. The design also includes gardens dedicated to the Commonwealth and to the nations of the United Kingdom, creating spaces for relaxation and reflection. The memorial has been developed in consultation with the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee following a design competition held last year.

Estatua de la Reina en el Monumento a la Reina Isabel, obra de Foster + Partners y su equipo.

Queen's Statue in the Queen Elizabeth Memorial by Foster + Partners and team.

“The Queen’s reign encompassed periods of significant change – socially and technologically – which she negotiated with incredible composure and stability. The memorial reaches across all ages and interests – and communicates the common values that Her Majesty promoted. With a serene and contemplative atmosphere, there will be opportunities to rediscover – or perhaps for some to discover – the legacy of Her Majesty.”

Founder and Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners, Lord Foster.

Models of the permanent memorial and details of the Queen Elizabeth Trust and the Digital Memorial will also be displayed at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, the Millennium Centre in Cardiff and Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland on 24 April to allow people from across the UK to view the details.

The Queen Elizabeth Digital Memorial can be visited here.

Queen's Statue in the Queen Elizabeth Memorial by Foster + Partners and team.

Birdcage walk in the Queen Elizabeth Memorial by Foster + Partners and team.

Rendering of the Commonwealth Compass in Queen Elizabeth Monument Park, by Foster + Partners and team.

Night rendering. Queen Elizabeth Memorial Bridge.

View more images

Metalocus recommends

Vila do Bispo Museum by spaceworkers. Photograph by Fernando Guerra.

Identity and contrast. Vila do Bispo Museum by spaceworkers

"Casa Sota la Mola" by Twobo. Photograph by José Hevia

Emerging from the earth. "Casa Sota la Mola" by Twobo

Experience the movement. Dr. Caro urban bus interchange in Elche by ARN / Architects

More information

Label

Architects

Text

Foster + Partners led by Lord Foster.
Creative Lead / Contractual Lead / Project Manager / Architect / Structural / MEP Engineer / Landscape & Horticulture Coordination / Lighting Designer / Sustainability / Principal Designer.

Label

Collaborators

Text

Paysagiste / landscape designer.- Michel Desvigne.
Sculptor.- Martin Jennings FRSS.
Sculptor.- Karen Newman MRSS.
Artist.- Yinka Shonibare CBE RA.
Ecology Consultant.- Nigel Dunnet RDI, FLI FRSA.
Planning Consultant.- DP9.
Heritage Consultant.- Purcell Heritage Consultants.
Community Engagement Specialist.- Kanda.
Cost Consultant.- Gardiner and Theobald LLP.
Memorial Curator.- Adrien Gardere.
Digital Consultant / Wayfinding Consultant.- 2X4.
Glass Structure Engineers.- Eckersley O’Callaghan.
Accessibility Consultant.- David Bonnett Associates.
Pedestrian Flow Consultant.- Space Syntax.
Construction Logistic and Construction Environmental Advisor.- WSP
Logistics & Security Consultant.- Arup.
Principal Arboricultural Consultant.- TMA Environmental Consultants.
Ecology Consultant.- Ramboll.

Label

Budget

Text

Provisional construction budget of between £23–46 million for the built memorial.

Label

Venue / Location

Text

St James’s Park, London, United Kingdom.

NORMAN FOSTER

Norman Foster is considered by many to be the most prominent architect in Britain. He won the 1999 Pritzker Architecture Prize and the 2009 Príncipe de Asturias de las Artes Prize.

Lord Foster rebuilt the Reichstag as a new German Parliament in Berlin and designed a contemporary Great Court for the British Museum. He linked St. Paul's Cathedral to the Tate Modern with the Millennium Bridge, a steel footbridge across the Thames. He designed the Hearst Corporation Building in Manhattan, at 57th Street and Eighth Avenue.

He was born in Manchester, England, in 1935. Among his firm’s many other projects are London’s City Hall, the Bilbao Metro in Spain, the Canary Wharf Underground Station in London and the renovated courtyard of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery in Washington.

In the 1970s, Lord Foster was one of the most visible practitioners of high-tech architecture that fetishized machine culture. His triumphant 1986 Hong Kong and Shanghai bank building, conceived as a kit-of-parts plugged into a towering steel frame, was capitalism's answer to the populist Pompidou Center in Paris.

Nicolai Ouroussoff, The Times’s architecture critic, has written that although Lord Foster’s work has become sleeker and more predictable in recent years, his forms are always driven by an internal structural logic, and they treat their surroundings with a refreshing bluntness.

Awarded the Prince of Asturias of the Arts 2009.

Published on: April 21, 2026

Cite:

metalocus, ANTONIO GRAS

"Final designs for Queen Elizabeth national memorial by Norman Foster and team" METALOCUS. Accessed

<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/final-designs-queen-elizabeth-national-memorial-norman-foster-and-team> ISSN 1139-6415