A New Memorial Will Honor Elizabeth II With a Bridge Inspired by Her Diamond-Studded Wedding Tiara
A British architecture firm has been selected to design the queen’s memorial in London, which will include a translucent bridge that evokes her wedding tiara’s delicate silhouette
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A glass bridge inspired by Elizabeth II’s wedding tiara will serve as the centerpiece of a new national memorial honoring the late British monarch in London’s St. James’ Park.
After launching an open competition in December, the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee selected the British architecture firm Foster + Partners from among five finalists to design the queen’s memorial. The firm’s concept honors the queen’s “extraordinary life of service” through a design that echoes the diamond-studded headpiece she wore at her 1947 wedding to Prince Philip, according to a statement from the British government.
The bridge’s glass balustrade, reminiscent of the delicate silhouette of the tiara, is “symbolic of Her Majesty as a unifying force, bringing together nations, countries, the Commonwealth, charities and the armed forces,” says Norman Foster, founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners, in a statement.
The structure will replace the Blue Bridge that currently stretches across the lake in St. James’ Park, just steps from Buckingham Palace. It will link two new gardens dedicated to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, offering a space for “reflection and coming together,” according to the statement.
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Made for Elizabeth’s grandmother, Queen Mary, in 1919, the tiara features diamonds that once belonged to Queen Victoria. The royal accessory eventually made its way to Elizabeth, who wore it on her wedding day. However, two hours before the ceremony, the fragile frame snapped as a hairdresser secured it on the bride’s head. Fortunately, the royal jeweler Garrard made a swift repair, allowing her to wear the tiara as planned. It has since been passed down to other royal brides, including Princess Anne and Princess Beatrice.
The memorial will also feature figurative sculptures, including one depicting the queen with Philip. Additionally, a new Prince Philip Gate and a “wind sculpture” by the British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare will be installed nearby.
Foster tells BBC News’ Sean Coughlan that the team wanted to emphasize Elizabeth and Philip’s deep connection. “We showed them together and, in a way, there was this inseparable quality which we sought to convey,” he says.
Philip and Elizabeth met as children in 1934. After marrying in 1947, they began a 74-year union that would make Philip the longest-serving royal consort in British history.
The proposed statues bring Elizabeth “back together with the beloved husband she so missed after his death in 2021,” writes Pippa Catterall, a historian at the University of Westminster in London, in the Conversation. “It’s a move that the queen would no doubt have thoroughly approved.”
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When Elizabeth died on September 8, 2022, she was 96 and the longest-reigning monarch in British history. She was widely admired for her steadfast sense of duty and calm leadership throughout a reign that spanned seven decades.
“She was part of our national identity and helped to define our values,” Robin Janvrin, the queen’s former private secretary and chair of the memorial committee, says in a statement. “She gave us a sense of continuity through times of great change.”
Janvrin adds that the memorial’s proximity to Buckingham Palace would have held special significance for Elizabeth. “I think the location is something which would have appealed to her,” he tells BBC News. “You can see the bridge from the room where she often sat for paintings.”
Quick fact: Elizabeth II’s coronation
The young queen’s ceremony at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953, was the first coronation to be televised.
The memorial is a publicly funded project, with a projected cost of around $31 million to $62 million. Some onlookers have criticized the initiative as costly and wasteful.
While the original tiara was “a model of recycling [that] has been passed down the generations,” the new memorial will “see a perfectly good crossing needlessly destroyed,” Oliver Wainwright, an architecture and design critic, writes for the Guardian. “Memorializing more than just the queen, this costly tiara will be an apt bookend to an age of excessive consumption.”
The committee is planning to select a sculptor to design the memorial’s statues later this year. The final design will be revealed in April 2026, marking what would have been the queen’s 100th birthday.
