Sculptor Karen Newman joins the National Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Project

The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee has appointed renowned sculptor Karen Newman MRSS to design a new sculpture of the late Monarch in St James Park, London as part of the memorial landscape, the Cabinet Office has confirmed in an update on the project’s progress.

The sculpture will be situated on the Birdcage Walk side of the park and will form part of the National Memorial to Queen Elizabeth II being designed by Foster + Partners under the direction of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee. 

Karen is an acclaimed British sculptor, with a career spanning more than five decades. Her works include World War II heroines - Noor Inayat Khan, Violette Szabo, Nancy Wake - and sculpted portraits of poet WH Auden and actor Charles Dance. For twenty years she worked as a sculptor for Madame Tussauds, where she sculpted wax portrait figures of Prince Philip, former Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and Tony Blair and several stars from the entertainment industries. 

Her smaller figurative sculpture will complement the main statue of Queen Elizabeth that will overlook The Mall being designed by sculptor Martin Jennings. 

The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee has confirmed two further developments in the design of the national memorial: that Martin Jenning’s statue of The late Queen will depict her in a standing position; and he will also sculpt the statue of Prince Philip, which will be situated close to the statue of Queen Elizabeth II on The Mall. 

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."

Main Image: Render QE II Memorial, Courtesy Foster and Partners