As you approach Buckingham Palace it would be hard to miss the large statue that stands on a roundabout facing along The Mall, topped by the gleaming, gilded bronze ‘Winged Victory’.

With the completion of The Mall as the grand ceremonial route, King Edward VII planned to create this Victoria Memorial Statue as a memorial to his late mother Queen Victoria, who had died in 1901 after having reigned over the British Empire for more than 63 years. Funds to create the statue and re-model the area in front of Buckingham Palace were provided by governments and the public around the British Empire. It was so over-subscribed that the excess money was used to re-face Buckingham Palace and create the large Admiralty Arch building that spans the other end of The Mall.

The project to create the statue and remodel the surrounding area took 10 years to complete, by which time Edward VII had passed away. The statue was therefore officially unveiled in 1911 in a ceremony attended by his successor, the new King George V, and the German Emperor Wilhelm II, both grandsons of Queen Victoria and cousins of each other. It was the last time Wilhelm was to visit the country before the breakout of the First World War when Britain and Germany were in conflict against each other.