Queen Elizabeth memorial to include Prince Philip

The winning design for the national memorial for Queen Elizabeth II will feature a bridge with a balustrade made of glass, new gates and commemorative gardens.

The design will also feature her husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, alongside a traditional, large statue of the late Queen overlooking the Mall.

Lord Norman Foster's design team has been announced as the winner of the competition for a memorial to honour Britain's longest-reigning monarch, to be built in St James's Park in central London.

The translucent bridge is inspired by the shape of the late Queen's wedding tiara.

Elizabeth and Philip's marriage lasted 73 years, until his death in 2021. The late Queen spoke of how much she missed her "beloved" husband and this memorial design brings them together, with figures of the couple and a Prince Philip gate.

There is no date yet set for the monument to be completed. And the final cost has still be decided, with a budget previously said to be between £23m and £46m.

The anti-monarchy campaign group, Republic, called for the royals to pay for the memorial rather than the government. "They can pay for their own statue," said the group's chief executive, Graham Smith.

The design will see the re-landscaping of a section of St James's Park, with a bridge, two new gates, and two gardens, as well as statues of the Queen and the Queen with Prince Philip.

Lord Foster said it was an "honour and a privilege" for his team to carry out this project, which "stretched the boundaries of art and technology".

The leading architect's previous work has included the Gherkin office tower and the Great Court of the British Museum in London, and the Reichstag dome in Berlin.

He said the memorial was a creative attempt to convey the "values she represented" to the "many people who are passing through the park".

The different layers of the memorial would suggest the "richness, the complexity and the many different dimensions" of the late Queen's reign, he said

And the bridge would have a "jewel-like" quality, he said.

"The bridge is lightweight. It can be floated along the Thames, it can come in overnight. The old bridge can be taken away. It's translucent, a very light touch in the landscape." Lord Foster said.

The final look of the statues will depend on the sculptor, who has yet to be appointed. But the illustrations of the main monument so far have shown a conventional image of the late Queen on horseback.

She was "so synonymous" with horse riding, said Lord Foster.

Baroness Amos, who was on the committee that chose the winner, said the "ambitious design will create a beautiful space for people to come together".

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, said it was a "beautiful memorial" to the late Queen's "life and legacy of public service" which would provide a "space to reflect on and celebrate our longest-reigning monarch for centuries to come".

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