Architect who criticised King Charles shortlisted to design Queen Elizabeth memorial

An architect who once condemned the King for using his “privileged position” to intervene in a London development has been shortlisted to design the national memorial for the late Queen Elizabeth.

Lord Norman Foster, the man behind London’s Gherkin, the Reichstag in Berlin and the British Museum’s Great Court in London, is vying to create a new memorial to celebrate the former monarch’s extraordinary life of service.

His architecture studio Foster + Partners is one of the five teams shortlisted following the first stage of a two-stage open competition, despite his previous criticism of Charles.

His team also features British artist Yinka Shonibare, whose work explores cultural identity and the post-colonialism world, and ecologist Professor Nigel Dunnett, who was behind the Superbloom planting scheme in the Tower of London’s moat to celebrate the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Lord Foster was one of a number of the world’s top architects who penned a letter criticising the then-prince for trying to interfere in plans to redevelop London’s Chelsea Barracks scheme in 2009. The architects wrote the letter after the royal lobbied the site owner about the modernist steel and glass design and suggested a classical architect he preferred.

They jointly accused him of using his “privileged position” to intervene adding: “Behind-the-scenes lobbying by the prince should not be used to skew the course of an open and democratic planning process that is under way.”

The initial designs were scrapped before a new bid by different designers was approved in 2011. Construction began in 2015, and the first residents moved into the luxury properties in 2019.

Designers shortlisted to create the new memorial will be required to submit their plans later in the Spring. The winner will then be announced in the summer.

The site for the new national Queen Elizabeth II Memorial will include the area of St James’s Park adjacent to The Mall at Marlborough Gate, and land surrounding the pathway down to the lake, including the Blue Bridge.

It was chosen because of its proximity to the ceremonial route of The Mall, its historical and constitutional significance and personal connection to Queen Elizabeth.

The final design will be formally announced in April 2026, to coincide with what would have been Queen Elizabeth’s 100th birthday year.

The shortlisted design team are Foster + Partners, Heatherwick Studio, J&L Gibbons, Tom Stuart Smith and WilkinsonEyre.