The new statue is said to be the first permanent memorial to the late Queen
Queen Elizabeth’s second posthumous birthday was celebrated in a major way in the smallest county in England.
On April 21, what would have been the late Queen’s 98th birthday, a seven-foot bronze statue depicting the monarch as a young woman with a corgi at her feet was unveiled outside the local library in Oakham in Rutland, England’s smallest county. The Rutland City Council said the effigy is “England’s first permanent memorial to Her Late Majesty,” who died in September 2022 at age 96.
The statue by Hywel Brân Pratley imagined a young Queen Elizabeth standing in ceremonial robes with the George IV Diadem on her head, the Order of the Garter sash across her gown and one of her beloved corgis playing at her feet. The sculptor gave a peek at his creation last year and added two more corgis to the base of the statue for the final product.
