There may be a shortage of statues to women in London, but there’s always an exception for Queens. In fact, Queen Anne has two and Queen Boudica - who burnt the city down - merits a place of honour opposite the Houses of Parliament.
King Alfred The Great
Thought to be the oldest free-standing statue in London, heavily restored through the centuries, this portrait of Alfred The Great was moved here in 1822 from Westminster. Alfred became king in 871. He united England, founded St Paul’s and rebuilt London’s walls.
Trinity Church Square SE1
Tube: Borough
King Henry VIII
St Bartholomew's Hospital was part of a priory but, when King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in the 1530s, Barts was spared. The king’s gesture is marked by this likeness of him over one of the hospital gates: the only outdoor statue of him in London.
West Smithfield EC1
Tube: Barbican/St Paul’s
Queen Elizabeth I
The daughter of King Henry VIII is commemorated by this figure in a niche high on the outside of St Dunstan-in-the-West church. Moved here from Ludgate Hill, it survived the Great Fire of 1666 and, dating from 1586, is the only one of her known to have been carved during her reign.
Tube: Temple/Blackfriars
www.stdunstaninthewest.org
King Volodymyr
King Volodymyr ruled parts of Ukraine from 980-1015 and forcibly converted Kiev to Christianity in 988, leading to a flowering of literacy. This statue, by Leonard Molodozhanyn, shows him as a saint. It was erected in 1988 by the Ukrainian Community in the UK.
Holland Park Avenue W11
Tube: Holland Park
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Kings & Queens 1 2
Queen Anne
Queen Anne was the ruling monarch when St Paul’s was built in 1710. The original, sculpted by Francis Bird in 1712, was much weather-beaten and was replaced with this replica in 1886. The figures on the base represent England, Ireland, France, Ireland and North America - all of which Anne ruled.
St Paul’s Cathedral EC4
Tube: St Paul’s
Queen Anne
Queen Anne united England and Scotland (by force), and hence the first ruler of Great Britain. Her ghost is said to walk three times around this street on the anniversary of her death: July 31. The street dates from 1704, and the statue - a copy of the one at St Paul’s - is mentioned in papers of the time.
Queen Anne’s Gate SW1
Tube: Charing Cross
Queen Boudica
Boudica was a queen of the Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the Roman Empire in AD61 and razed London. Perhaps ironically, her myth was built up at the height of the British Empire - during the reign of Queen Victoria - with this statue by Thomas Thornycroft erected in 1905.
Westminster Bridge WC2
Tube: Westminster
Richard I
Richard the Lionheart by Carlo Marocchetti was first cast in plaster for the Great Exhibition. This bronze copy was made in 1860 by public subscription. Richard spent most of his reign away on The Crusades. Marocchetti’s statue of Robert Stephenson is at Euston Station.
Houses of Parliament SW1
Tube: Westminster
