Queen Elizabeth’s second posthumous birthday was honored in a significant 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 representing 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.
The larger-than-life sculpture was commissioned by Dr. Sarah Furness, the Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland, following the death of the Queen in September 2022. About $155,000 was fundraised to make the project possible, and Furness spoke about the significance of the posthumous statue at the unveiling ceremony.
“We are witnessing a piece of history today with the first statue of Queen Elizabeth to be commissioned since her death and who gave us 70 years of exemplary service,” said the lord-lieutenant, according to The Telegraph.
“Rutland may be a small county, but the response to this had been huge with contributions from local businesses and individuals of varying sizes,” she continued.
The grand reveal was attended by hundreds of people as well as corgis from the Welsh Corgi League, some festively dressed in patriotic bandanas.
Corgis became synonymous with Queen Elizabeth during her record 70-year reign, starting with Susan, the pet she received as an 18th birthday gift. Susan went on to become the furry matriarch of 14 generations of dogs owned by Queen Elizabeth, and the monarch owned over 30 corgis and “dorgis” (daschund-corgi mixes) throughout her lifetime.
Caroline Perry, author of The Corgi and the Queen, previously told PEOPLE the oftentimes rambunctious dogs were an expression of the Queen’s own personality.
“She couldn’t choose her life, but she could choose her companions,” Perry said.
“The fact that these corgis are so spirited, so lively and so mischievous, I think in some way that was her way of expressing how she felt inside but wasn’t able to convey. She was so prim and proper and never put a foot wrong, did she? Yet these naughty dogs are doing all kinds of things that maybe she wished she could do.”
Sarah Ferguson adopted the Queen’s final two corgis, Sandy and Muick, following her death and previously told PEOPLE about taking care of them.
“They are national icons, so every time they run chasing a squirrel, I panic,” the Duchess of York said. “But they’re total joys, and I always think that when they bark at nothing, and there’s no squirrels in sight, I believe it’s because the Queen is passing by.”
The new statue of Queen Elizabeth on April 22, 2024 in Oakham, England.
Pratley said that he incorporated the dogs into the statue inspired by the royal in the 1950s and 1960s to “tap into the late Queen’s humanity and address her friendliness.”
“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 mother of a nation,” he told The Telegraph.
The sculptor said he completed the creation with a plinth to sit on and said he could see it “becoming popular with the Instagram generation.”
“It will make a perfect backdrop for pictures and people will be able to reach up and pat a dog or if small enough even sit in its back,” said Pratley, who posted photos of the crowd and the corgis on his Instagram Stories.
The new statue was unveiled by Alicia Kearns, the Tory Member of Parliament for Rutland and Melton.
