New statue to memorialise Queen Elizabeth II with her corgis

British sculptor Hywel Brân Pratley was commissioned to make the first dedicated memorial of the late monarch, which also marks one of his first public sculptures in Britain, according to the Telegraph UK.

“This as I understood it is the first commissioned as a memorial to the Queen. There were others which were being worked on before her death, some finished and completed, some finished and still not yet unveiled,” he told the outlet.

Currently, there are seven statues of Her Majesty present in the country. This includes one erected in Windsor Great Park in 2002 to mark her Golden Jubilee and another recently unveiled by the King at the entrance of York Minster — originally commissioned to mark her Platinum Jubilee.

Pratley’s statue was commissioned by Dr Sarah Furness — the Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland — who said she had the idea after being “inundated” with letters after the passing of the Queen from the citizens of the country, many of whom felt her death was like a “personal bereavement”.

“I wanted something that reflected Her Majesty as a Queen rather than as a person for posterity,” she told the newspaper, adding that “we wanted to do something that reflected her warmth and humanity too”.

The statues closely resemble the young Queen from the 1950s to 60s — the photographs of which adorn Pratley’s studio. “My only criteria set by the statue committee were that they would like a young queen and they would like her to be dressed in state robes,” he said.

As for the inclusion of corgis in the statue, Pratley said that the Queen always had corgis around so he thought it would be a missed opportunity to not include them in the composition. “I very quickly thought that I would like to have a corgi nestling in her robes by her feet because what a great symbol it is, artistically, of her being the mother of a nation… The dogs and us able to shelter under Her Majesty.”

Once completed, the statue will be showcased outside the library in Oakham — a town in the smallest county in England, Rutland.

According to reports, the King has been personally asked to unveil the statue once it is completed.

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