Victoria has her eye on you!

Rather lovely shot of the Queen Victoria Monument which stands directly in front of the Eastern facade of Buckingham Palace – that’s the one with the balcony on which our Royal Family stand during national celebratory events.

It is the centrepiece of a monument that includes the Dominion Gates (Canada Gate, Australia Gate and South and West Africa Gates) and the Memorial Gardens.

The overall scheme was conceived by the most famous architect of the day, Aston Webb although the actual monument itself was created by Thomas Brock.

There is an awful lot going on in this monument, including statues representing courage, constancy, victory, charity, truth and motherhood. Victory is the golden statue at the top that always looks so striking, whilst constancy and courage sit below her. There are also a couple of eagles with their wings outstretched thrown in for good measure, as these represent the British Empire.

As you can see from the photograph, Queen Victoria who was the queen of England for 63 years until her death in 1901, is sitting down and looking up the processional route known as the Mall.

She certainly cuts an imposing figure although she was only 4’11”, a smidgen smaller than Kylie Minogue…Later in life, her weight ballooned, with her waist reportedly measuring 50 inches..