Renowned British sculptor Karen Newman MRSS has been appointed to create a new sculpture of Queen Elizabeth II as part of the UK’s national memorial to the late Monarch, the Queen

Elizabeth Memorial Committee has confirmed.

The sculpture will be located along Birdcage Walk, marking the entrance to St James’s Park, and will form a key element of the wider Queen Elizabeth II Memorial currently being developed in central London. The overall memorial landscape is being designed by ‘Foster + Partners’, working under the direction of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee.

Newman’s work will complement the principal statue of Queen Elizabeth II overlooking ‘The Mall’, which is being designed by acclaimed sculptor Martin Jennings. In a further update on the project, the Committee confirmed that Jennings’ statue of the late Queen will depict her in a standing pose, and that he will also sculpt a statue of Prince Philip, to be positioned nearby on The Mall.

With a career spanning more than five decades, Karen Newman is one of Britain’s most respected figurative sculptors. Her public works include celebrated memorials to World War II heroines such as Noor Inayat Khan, Violette Szabo and Nancy Wake, as well as sculpted portraits of poet W. H. Auden and actor Charles Dance. She also spent twenty years as a sculptor for Madame Tussauds, creating wax figures of Prince Philip, former Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and Tony Blair, alongside numerous figures from the entertainment world.

Newman’s smaller figurative sculpture in St James’s Park is intended to offer a more intimate counterpoint to the main statue on The Mall, contributing to a layered and reflective memorial experience within the park setting.

The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee has confirmed that the final designs for the national memorial will be unveiled in April 2026, to coincide with what would have been Queen Elizabeth II’s 100th birthday. The project is expected to become a lasting focal point of remembrance, celebrating the life, service and legacy of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.

Karen 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”.

Martin Jennings said: “I have admired Karen’s work for many years and I am delighted that she will be joining the team of artists tasked with making sculptures for the memorial site. Her work always has great presence, being both subtle and commanding in equal measure.

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”.

Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners, 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”.

Photo by Birdcage Walk, St James, London by PAUL FARMER, Wikimedia commons.