Independent report

Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee Recommendations Report (HTML)

Published 22 April 2026

Foreword

In presenting these recommendations on behalf of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee, I am very mindful of the challenge we set ourselves at the beginning of 2024. Our task has been to capture something of the role of the late Queen and what she meant to so many of us throughout her long reign – her sense of duty and service along with her constancy, faith, optimism and humour.

During our visits up and down the country we have been struck by the personal affection for her memory. People spoke of “our” Queen, part of their own lives, a reassuring presence in times of change. We were reminded that she was not for vanity, extravagance or show but someone of quiet example, common sense and determination to contribute to the public good.

Our aim has been to find a tribute as exceptional as her life which we celebrate.

We recommend three proposals. These are aimed above all at providing public benefit as well as being both a fitting memorial to the life and values of Queen Elizabeth and of our time.

In London we propose a physical memorial with her statue on the Mall and with a major enhancement of the wonderful St James’s Park with new paths and gardens and a much-needed new bridge. To bring benefit throughout the United Kingdom, we are proposing a new charitable Trust to support local projects in recognition of the importance the late Queen attached to strengthening communities. More widely we are proposing a Digital Memorial to collect people’s memories of the late Queen which we believe will be of interest to future generations.

Queen Elizabeth provided us with values and a sense of continuity that we perhaps took for granted until they were gone. The Committee hopes that our proposals offer a memorial worthy of her life of service and a tribute which celebrates her memory by continuing to benefit us all: the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth to whom she devoted her life.

I must record my gratitude to my fellow Committee members for their wisdom and tireless commitment to this project and to the Cabinet Office Secretariat for the excellent professional support they have provided throughout. I am also grateful to the many people who gave so generously their time and ideas along the way; their advice has been instrumental in shaping these recommendations.

Lord Janvrin GCB GCVO QSO PC

Following its appointment in February 2024, the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee was tasked by HM Government and the Royal Household to advise on appropriate national memorials  to mark the extraordinary 70-year reign and life of public service of Queen Elizabeth II. Following extensive research and widespread engagement with communities across the nations of the United Kingdom, the Committee presents our final proposals.

As a committee, our work was guided by the ambition to celebrate the Queen’s extraordinary contribution to national life, provide tangible benefits to the public, and ensure her legacy is captured for future generations. To achieve this we have developed three complementary recommendations:

1. A national memorial in St. James’ Park. This enduring legacy designed by Foster + Partners will feature formal statues of the Queen and Prince Philip by Martin Jennings, depicted early in her reign, another bust depicting the Queen in later years by Karen Newman MRSS, and a sculpture relating to the Commonwealth by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA. Central to the memorial will be a new widened bridge inspired by the Queen Mary Fringe Tiara used by the late Queen on her wedding day, and gardens paying tribute to her relationship to the nations of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

2. The establishment of the Queen Elizabeth Trust to deliver a national community programme. Supported by a £40m government endowment and augmented by further fundraising, this initiative will provide grants to regenerate shared community spaces across the UK, embodying the Queen’s devotion to public service and community connection. The Trust will focus on projects that bring local people together, addressing the need for long-term support for under-utilised neighbourhood buildings and green spaces.

3. A digital memorial that will build a map of memories to celebrate the life and legacy of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, inviting people across the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and worldwide, to send us their memories of Queen Elizabeth. Linked to the Court Circular, the daily record of the Queen’s official life, this platform will allow people to record and share their personal memories of the Queen, alongside unique archive material drawn from national collections, preserving the impact she had on those she met for future generations.

We recognised from the outset the challenge that lies in paying fitting tribute to Queen Elizabeth’s extraordinary life for future generations, considering her national importance and the breadth of her work and achievements as Queen. However, having engaged with many organisations, groups and individuals across the country, we believe that these recommendations meet this challenge; they are an appropriate commemoration of the Queen’s memory and a reflection of the times she lived through, while representing the values she stood for and offering a memorial programme for the 21st century.

Introduction

Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign, the longest of any British monarch, was extraordinary – not only due to its length, but the unique contribution she made to our national life.

The late Queen was part of our national identity and helped to define our values; she gave us a sense of continuity through times of great change; and through the many prizes and awards that she instigated or gave her name to, she championed excellence across a variety of fields and exemplified public service for us all.

The Queen’s ability to connect with those from all walks of life was felt strongly by the millions she met, including almost a third of Britons who either saw her or directly interacted with her. She had an unparalleled sense of dedication to duty and to service, acting as patron to over 600 charities and carrying out over 170 official state visits and 21,000 engagements over the course of her reign.^{[footnote 1]} Her contribution persists today in the memories of her speeches and Christmas messages, national events, and visits around the country; as well as the ongoing work of the many charities she supported.

The commemoration of the Queen recognises a lifetime of service. Hundreds of thousands paid their respects in 2022 at her lying in state, and her funeral was watched by more than 32 million viewers. Historically, national plans to commemorate monarchs have been instigated and agreed through the work of an independent advisory Committee. The memorialisation of King George V took the form of a statue on Old Palace Yard, and a legacy scheme which secured hundreds of public spaces still existing today – the King George Playing Fields; similarly, King George VI was memorialised by a statue and the provision of funding for leadership training for young people, youth hostels, and centres for the elderly.

For these reasons, HM Government and The King appointed the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee on 5 February 2024. The Committee was asked to develop, consult and advise upon appropriate and fitting national memorials to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year reign and life of public service, presenting our final proposals by April 2026. The Committee’s mandate and corresponding Terms of Reference can be found in Annex B of this report. This report sets out the Committee’s recommendations.

The members of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee.

The Committee was appointed on 5th February 2024. Each of the Committee members’ work and experiences have related to the Queen’s life in some respect. The Chair of the Committee is Lord Janvrin GCB GCVO QSO PC, the late Queen’s Private Secretary from 1999-2007. Other members are:

• Baroness Valerie Amos LG PH PC
• Dame Amelia Fawcett DBE CVO
• Joe Garner
• Alex Holmes OBE
• Dr. Anna Keay OBE
• Sandy Nairne CBE FSA
• Sir William Shawcross CVO

Biographies of the Committee members can be found in Annex C of this report.

Guiding Principles

As a committee, we recognised the scale of our task in devising appropriate recommendations for the commemoration of Queen Elizabeth II. We therefore commissioned extensive research into previous memorials of different types over the past decades, and used this to derive a set of principles that would guide our work developing the recommendations.

We agreed that our recommendations should encompass three key principles: to be an identifiable celebration and expression of the late Queen’s reign and her contribution to national life, including her dedication to public service; to provide tangible benefits for the public of the United Kingdom; and, to capture for future generations something of what the late Queen meant to the people and communities she served.

In addition, we recognised that the recommendations should also:

• be of an ambitious scale, proportionate to the commemoration of the UK’s longest serving monarch;
• reinforce a sense of national pride, community and wellbeing;
• be of significance and impact nationally;
• capture the importance of the Realms and Commonwealth to the late Queen, and her standing as a global figure;
• be accessible and inclusive;
• be inspiring and engaging;
• be enduring; and,
• achieve value for money.

The approach to our work

As a committee, we have been dedicated to ensuring our recommendations are shaped by the views of people from across the United Kingdom. We have undertaken an extensive programme of engagement, leading visits and roundtables across the four nations with a wide range of participants – including academics, subject matter experts, and community representatives from diverse backgrounds. These engagements have occurred at each stage of our work, allowing for continuous feedback on the recommendations as they evolved.

Among those we heard from were Young Ambassadors from the National Citizen Service and the #I Will campaign, as well as representatives from the Westminster Youth Council, who brought valued insights from a younger, and in the latter case local, perspective. We saw the recognition of youth voices as critical, not only to ensure that the memorial recommendations are valued by those of all ages, but also to create a memorial that endures.

To ensure that our recommendations reflected the breadth of the communities in the United Kingdom, we visited local representatives in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales, as well as areas in the North and South-West of England to hear their thoughts on our proposals. This included conversations with regional Mayors, Lord Lieutenants and other civic officers, as well as representatives of faith, community, arts, heritage, youth and academic organisations. We also sought the views of diaspora communities in the UK, and of the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories. In addition, given Queen Elizabeth’s status as Head of State of the Realms, we held several meetings with their government representatives. Recognising the importance of the wider Commonwealth to Her late Majesty, we engaged with representatives from across the Commonwealth, including the Secretary-General and London High Commissioners.

These visits provided us with many thought-provoking suggestions and ideas. During these sessions, we had the privilege of hearing many people discuss their memories of the Queen, reinforcing to us the importance she had, and continues to hold for them. Engaging with citizens from all walks of life and regions of the UK was integral to the Committee’s work in recognising Queen Elizabeth’s dedication to the citizens of the UK:

I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine. Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust.

Formal research comprised a key part of the programme, including polling and engagement with a Public Advisory Group formed of people reflective of the population of the United Kingdom. The group met on four occasions, and they shared their views, ideas and suggestions for us, including on the shortlisted designs for the national memorial, and on our ideas for the legacy programme and digital memorial. We also conducted focussed research with specific groups, such as those with accessibility needs, to ensure that our recommendations were inclusive.

The thoughts, opinions and suggestions that we have heard over the course of our work have been crucial to the development of the recommendations; providing innovative ideas and allowing us to test our thinking with people who held a diverse range of perspectives, so that we can say with some confidence that our recommendations reflect the thoughts not only of the Committee, but of those from across the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.

Recommendations

One of the key challenges we have faced as a Committee has been how the depth and breadth of the Queen’s impact and contributions could be fittingly commemorated, in a way that both adequately reflects the past and creates a positive impact in her name for the future.

Alongside this, a key consideration of the Committee has been ensuring maximum value for public money.

Having considered many different options, and engaged with experts and communities from across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, we have developed three recommendations:

• A National Memorial that stands as an enduring legacy to the Queen and the times she lived through, and in many ways helped shape – a testament to future generations.
• A Legacy Programme, that emulates and continues the Queen’s own deeply-held belief in public and community service, connecting people across communities.
• A Digital Memorial, that offers a living memorial to the Queen – combining rich archival content from notable collections with memories from the public, bringing to life her activities and achievements over her reign to create a unique public history archive.

Each of these recommendations speaks to a different aspect of her life and contribution, complementing each other to create a lasting testament to the Queen and her legacy.

A National Memorial in St. James’ Park

The Committee, alongside the majority of those consulted, strongly believed that the Queen should be commemorated through an enduring physical memorial, providing a space for gathering and reflection. We saw that it should act as an enduring testament to the Queen, her values, and her legacy for future generations.

We gave extensive thought to the memorial’s location: various sites were considered, but following discussions across the four nations and considering public polling, it was clear that the memorial should be located in London. The Queen was born in the capital and spent much of her life there as monarch. Additionally, the city holds constitutional significance as the centre of the UK Government and monarchy. As a central transportation hub, a memorial in London is easily accessible to visitors.

St. James’ Park was chosen due to its location on the ceremonial route of The Mall, and its close proximity to sites relevant to Queen Elizabeth, the monarchy and the constitution. Close by are Buckingham Palace, the official residence of the Monarch, Clarence House, her residence following her marriage and before Accession, and the Commonwealth Secretariat at Marlborough House. There are also memorials to Queen Victoria, to her parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and to her Grandmother, Queen Mary, and Great Grandmother, Queen Alexandra nearby.

The national memorial, designed by Foster + Partners, will extend from Marlborough Gate on the Mall in a site that runs north to south across the park to Birdcage Walk, over the St. James’ Park lake.

A formal monument space dedicated to Queen Elizabeth will be created on The Mall, in front of a reconfigured and relocated Marlborough Gate. Queen Elizabeth Place will include new benches and bollards, with inscriptions representing the nations of the United Kingdom and the other Realms of which she was Sovereign. The statue of Queen Elizabeth will be sculpted by Martin Jennings, depicted in Garter robes early in her reign, taking its inspiration from a famous portrait of her by Pietro Annigoni. The pavement design of this space is inspired by the Capitoline Hill in Rome, using bands of different coloured stone and linked to tiling patterns discovered by Sir Roger Penrose OM, one of the United Kingdom’s greatest living mathematicians.

Just behind the relocated Marlborough Gate will be a statue of Prince Philip, the UK’s longest-serving consort, paying tribute to his many achievements such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award, and work in design, technology and conservation. This statue will also be sculpted by Martin Jennings.

The area north of the lake will be cultivated into the United Kingdom Garden. This garden will express Queen Elizabeth’s links to the nations of the United Kingdom through the incorporation of native planting, as well as through the inclusion of pertinent symbols and artistic storytelling elements in the spaces for reflection within the garden. There will be close engagement with the devolved governments to devise these unique elements, which will also involve craftspeople from across the United Kingdom.

Leading south from the Garden of the United Kingdom will be a new bridge across St. James’ lake, its design inspired by Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara worn by Queen Elizabeth on her wedding day in 1947. The bridge widens at its centre, providing space for visitors to admire the views to Buckingham Palace and Westminster without impacting the use of the bridge as a thoroughfare for local residents and commuters.

The Commonwealth Garden will be created south of the lake, and will also include spaces for reflection as well as planting native to the Commonwealth. The garden will include The Commonwealth Wind Sculpture by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA. This sculpture, inspired by the fabric of the Queen’s coronation dress, will incorporate depictions of the flowers from the nations of the Commonwealth.

At the Birdcage Walk entrance to the park there will be a bust representing the Queen at a later age, sculpted by Karen Newman MRSS. In contrast to The Mall entrance, this space will be more informal, reflecting both the Queen’s role as constitutional monarch and private individual, and the themes of formality and informality in the park design.

Throughout the site we recommend that storytelling elements are included, some in the form of a Discovery Trail, to ensure that the memorial represents not only Queen Elizabeth’s constitutional role as head of state, but also the extraordinary events, advancements and changes that occurred over her reign.

It is part of the Committee’s ambitions that digital enhancements are added to the memorial site in the future, giving visitors a deeper experience with wider access to information and comment. We are keen to support connectivity in the site, particularly if there were to be an enhanced digital experience developed in the future. With that in mind, we recommend that any contingency is prioritised to fund installation of WiFi at the site.

Throughout the development of the design of the memorial site, the Committee and Foster + Partners have given careful consideration to the historical importance of the park – ensuring that the memorial’s design enhances, rather than overpowers, John Nash’s original landscape design. We have also carried out extensive engagement with The Royal Parks, as well as heritage and local interest groups, to ensure that the unique character of St. James’ Park remains intact.

A planning application for the physical memorial was submitted in January 2026, and has now been unanimously approved by Westminster City Council. More information about the physical memorial in St. James’ Park can be found at The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee.

Legacy Programme

We had the challenge of developing plans for a UK-wide legacy programme that champions Queen Elizabeth’s values and provides benefit to people and communities across the UK, recognisable as a fitting tribute. Queen Elizabeth spoke throughout her reign about the power of community – the importance of people feeling connected to one another and to the places they call home. Driven by her strong faith, and especially in her very personal Christmas messages, she returned again and again to the idea that “everyone is our neighbour,” and to her belief in the transformative impact of “ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”

The Queen had unique power to bring people together, and our aim is to harness that in a programme that adds value to the extraordinary work already being delivered by people and organisations across the UK.

We recommend that the Queen Elizabeth Trust be established to deliver a national community programme operating across the UK. Working through implementing charities, the Trust will provide grants to communities in both rural and urban areas, supporting the regeneration of shared community buildings and green spaces – with a focus on places that bring different local people together and can be sustained over the long term. The Trust aims to connect with people and groups who do not usually receive funding from these sorts of programmes, and invest in projects over a long period to build strong partnerships. The Queen Elizabeth Trust aims to ensure that her legacy lives on in communities across the United Kingdom for generations to come.

We agreed on a number of principles that underpinned the development of the concept for the legacy programme. The concept should:

• be an identifiable and visible tribute to Queen Elizabeth now and in the future;
• have a unique identity;
• empower people at a local level;
• bring people together;
• have projects across the UK;
• connect with ordinary people; and,
• have the potential for coordination with other Commonwealth countries.

During our engagement with community charities and local organisations across the country, a consistent theme emerged: many communities struggle to access the sustained, holistic support needed to maintain and make the most of existing spaces and places. Without long-term investment and local expertise, buildings become dilapidated and underused, and are unable to support community life. The Queen Elizabeth Trust is designed to fill this gap, harnessing the convening power of the Queen’s legacy to make a lasting positive difference.

In developing this recommendation, we worked extensively with community organisations, local authorities, academics and policy experts across the UK. Based on their insight and advice, we believe the following principles should underpin the programme’s implementation:

• The programme should foster collaboration across local communities in all their diversity, with the ambition of creating multi-use, multi-generational spaces that different groups share and value together.
• Outreach and application processes should be designed to reach projects and community leaders who may not have engaged with similar programmes before, ensuring the Trust’s benefits extend to those who most need them. This may involve additional support for the application processes to ensure that the funding is accessible to all.
• Support should be holistic – addressing not only the physical regeneration of a building or green space, but the longer-term resource needs that make a space operational and effective, including local champions, staff, expertise and training.

The programme seeks to embody the spirit of the Queen’s messages about fostering human connection, her values and devotion to public service, helping people to make an enduring positive impact on the lives and wellbeing of those living in their local area. The Trust will focus on having deep impact, with the potential to support particular projects over several consecutive years. Beginning with a focused set of grants in different parts of the UK, the programme will broaden its reach over time – ensuring that the Queen’s legacy touches the lives of an ever-increasing breadth of the people and places she was so devoted to.

Our public engagement emphasised the importance of communicating clearly the tangible difference the programme will make, including reducing loneliness, encouraging inter-generational relationships, and improving community environments, particularly given the pressures many people are facing at the present time.

We recommend that the Government’s contribution to the programme take the form of a £40m endowment to the Queen Elizabeth Trust. An endowment structure means that as well as the funding being used to make grants, it is invested to generate income over time, giving the Trust the independence and financial stability to make grants for at least 20 years. This approach maximises the long-term impact of the public investment, whilst ensuring appropriate assurance mechanisms are in place. We feel that delivering the programme through an independent body will enable the programme to be flexible, innovative and enduring. Community needs change over time and we want the Trust to be responsive. The Trust will work with partners to deliver grants across the UK. The endowment will also be supplemented through additional fundraising, further extending its reach and lifespan.

The Trust has been established with three initial Board members, Sir Damon Buffini (Chair), Alex Holmes and John Booth. Further trustees will be recruited in due course, ensuring the Board is reflective of the diversity of the UK and the communities the Trust will work with. The Trust’s work is in its early stages and we expect them to launch formally, including providing further details about implementation and ways to get involved, in Autumn 2026. Further detail about the Queen Elizabeth Trust.

Digital Memorial

Over the course of her reign, Queen Elizabeth frequently travelled across the United Kingdom and the wider world. Many people cherish memories of meeting and seeing the Queen during these visits, and the engagements she held at Buckingham Palace such as her garden parties.

During our meetings with experts and communities, we have greatly appreciated hearing many of these stories that people shared with us. However, we realised that these memories, which give poignant insights to people’s experiences of the Queen and the effect she had, risk being lost as time goes on.

Further research we undertook highlighted that there was a strong appetite for a digital memorial to celebrate the Queen’s life: harnessing the power of technology and bringing it to the present time, and reaching more people whilst preserving history for education and research. Those consulted stated that they saw a digital memorial as a way to reach out to many people across the world in celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s life, legacy, and what she represented to the UK and worldwide in terms of culture, stability, strength, longevity, but also humanity.

The Queen Elizabeth Digital Memorial will provide a platform where people can record and share these memories, and read the submissions of other people. Memories will be linked to the Court Circular, the daily record of the Queen’s official life, grouping memories to particular places and events. This will act as a shared, collective, people’s memorial to the Queen, bringing to life and recording for future generations the work that she did in this unique public history archive.

To date, the Cabinet Office has been researching, testing and building the website for the April launch. We recommend that the Queen Elizabeth Digital Memorial continues to be developed over the next twelve months, and that a long-term home be found for the memorial where it will be hosted, maintained and curated for up to four years. Further detail about the digital memorial can be found at queenelizabeth.com.

Conclusion

We are confident that the three recommendations together offer a fitting commemoration of Queen Elizabeth II’s extraordinary 70-year reign and lifetime of service. We hope the benefits of these memorials will become evident; the site in St James’s park will provide a point of reflection and space for remembrance, communities will be brought together through the Trust, and previously unheard memories and content events will be visible on the digital memorial.

Funding for memorials to Queen Elizabeth in each of the four nations of the UK has also been agreed; it was announced in November 2025 that £1.4m of capital funding will be made available to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to support their memorialisation plans.

Following the conclusion of the Committee’s work, we propose that the delivery of the national memorial be managed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Governance of the construction should be closely managed to ensure the final design meets the Committee’s recommendations, and value for money is achieved.

The Queen Elizabeth Trust should continue to develop delivery methods for grant-making, with the recruitment of a CEO anticipated by September ready for formal launch in the Autumn of this year.

We expect the digital site will be launched in April, allowing people across the globe to contribute their memories of Queen Elizabeth, and connect to events throughout her reign.

We believe that these recommendations meet the challenge of reflecting the late Queen’s outstanding contribution to the national life of our country throughout her reign. We commend them to His Majesty’s Government and His Majesty The King.

Annex A: Acknowledgements

These recommendations have been developed over two years, drawing on the suggestions, insights and advice of a wide range of organisations and experts, including:

• Arm’s length bodies responsible for UK-wide community programmes, including the National Lottery Community Fund;
• Existing and previous Royal programmes, including the Earthshot Prize and the Queen’s Jubilee programmes;
• Experts across the digital and tech sectors;
• Foster + Partners;
• Government policy experts in community building, green space, conservation, social cohesion, loneliness reduction and regeneration from across UK Government, the Scottish and Welsh Governments, and the Northern Ireland Executive;
• Groups focused on intergenerational connection, including Intergenerational England;
• Groups representing young people, including the National Citizen Service and the #IWill campaign;
• Heritage and landscaping experts;
• Historians and academics specialising in cultural memory and memorialisation;
• Local authorities across the UK, as well as the Local Government Association;
• Members of Parliament, in particular the Minister of House of Lords;
• Previous large-scale legacy and community projects, including Big Local and Spirit of 2012;
• Regional and local charities focused on community infrastructure, green space and empowering local people in both rural and urban areas across the UK;
• Royal charities working with communities, including the Royal Foundation, the King’s Foundation, the King’s Trust, the King’s Countryside Fund and Fields in Trust;
• The Royal Parks;
• Those who formed part of the Public Advisory Groups; and,
• UK-wide community charities, including UK Community Foundations, Groundwork and Locality.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for the time and effort that they kindly gave to us.

Annex B: Committee Terms of Reference

The Terms of Reference for The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee are as follows:

1. To make recommendations to the Prime Minister and The King for a fitting permanent memorial and legacy programme for Queen Elizabeth II.
2. To ensure the memorialisation programme progresses in line with agreed timelines, with final proposals announced in 2026.
3. Provide recommendations for a permanent memorial, bringing in expertise on commissioning and design selection as appropriate.
4. Provide recommendations for one or more legacy programmes to reflect Queen Elizabeth II’s contribution to national life.
5. To engage with the Devolved Governments and the wider public, to ensure views and ideas are captured and activity is coordinated.
6. Engage with His Majesty’s Treasury as proposals are being developed, to ensure the programme is delivered in line with value for money principles and good practice.
7. To bring together specialist expertise and subject matter experts to advise the Committee as required.
8. Ensure experiences and lessons are captured to support future Government memorialisation projects.
9. Oversee appropriate risk mitigation measures as they relate to the development of the memorialisation proposals

It will be for His Majesty’s Government and the Royal Household to consider and take forward the implementation of the recommendations, coordinated through the Secretariat.

Annex C: Committee Members

Lord Janvrin GCB GCVO PC

The Committee is chaired by The Rt Hon Lord Janvrin GCB GCVO QSO PC. Robin Janvrin joined the Royal Household in 1987 and served as Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II between 1999 and 2007, having served as her Press Secretary, Assistant Private Secretary and Deputy Private Secretary between 1987 and 1999.

Before entering the Royal Household he served in the Royal Navy between 1964 and 1975 and in the Diplomatic Service between 1975 and 1987, taking postings in NATO Brussels and New Delhi.

Since leaving the Royal Household, Lord Janvrin served as Chairman of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry from 2010 to 2016, and a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery from 2008 to 2016 and of the Gurkha Welfare Trust from 2010 to 2016. He was Senior Adviser to HSBC Private Bank (UK) between 2008-2019. He was a Member of the British Library Board from 2017 to 2025, a Trustee of the Normandy Memorial Trust from 2018 to 2023, and is Secretary of the Order of Merit.

He was ennobled in 2007 and sits as a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.

The Rt Hon Baroness Valerie Amos LG PH PC

Baroness Valerie Amos has been the Master of University College Oxford since September 2020. Prior to this she was the Director of SOAS, University of London. She was a Cabinet Minister, 2003-2007, including serving as Secretary of State for International Development, Leader of the House of Lords, and Lord President of the Council.

Baroness Amos has also served as UK High Commissioner to Australia and was the United Nations Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from 2010 -2015.

Lady Amos’s interests include, foreign policy and development matters, social justice, equality and inclusion as well as education. She is on the board of the Mastercard Foundation, UN Foundation and Institute for Government and is also a member of the advisory board of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and Patron of the Amos Bursary.

Baroness Amos was appointed a Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter by the late Queen in January 2022, an honour solely in the gift of the Monarch.

Dame Amelia Fawcett DBE CVO

Dame Amelia is a Non-Executive Director (and the former Lead Director) of State Street Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts. She was a Governor of the Wellcome Trust from 2019-2023, a Non-Executive Director and then Chair of Kinnevik AB in Stockholm from 2011 – 2021 and of the Guardian Media Group plc from 2007 – 2013. She worked for Morgan Stanley for 20 years, joining in London in 1987 and becoming Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chair of the European, Middle East and Africa operations in 2002. Dame Amelia started her career at the US law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, first in New York and then in Paris.

Dame Amelia is Co-Chair of the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits, Chair of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Chair of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and a Trustee of Project HOPE UK. Until recently, she was Chair of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Chair of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments, a Non-Executive member of the Board of HM Treasury, Chair of The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation, Deputy Chair and a Governor of the London Business School and a Commissioner of the UK-US Fulbright Commission. She also has been a member of the Court of the Bank of England and Deputy Chair of the National Portrait Gallery.

Dame Amelia was appointed a Commander of The Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in Her late Majesty The Queen’s 2018 Birthday Honours List, an honour solely in the gift of the Monarch. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2010 Queen’s Birthday Honours List and a CBE in 2002, in both cases for services to the financial services industry. She received The Prince of Wales’s Ambassador Award in 2004.

Joe Garner

Joe led Nationwide Building Society through Brexit and COVID as CEO from 2016 to 2022. His career started with Procter & Gamble in 1991 based predominantly in Romania. In 2001 he joined Currys Plc before moving to HSBC in 2004 where he progressed to lead the UK. In 2014 he became Chief Executive Officer of BT’s Openreach.

Joe was a non-executive director of the Financial Ombudsman Service from 2008-2010 and served on the Board of the UK Finance and the Financial Regulator’s Practitioner Panel. Joe now works as an advisor to CEOs and was an advisor to the Government in developing the National Payments Vision, following up on his 2023 Future of Payments review.

Joe is a Patron of British Triathlon and a GB age group competitor finishing 16th at the 2025 World Championships. He was Chair of the British Triathlon charity from 2013 to 2021 and since 2023 is Chair of the charity Tennis First.

Alex Holmes OBE, Queen’s Young Leader

Alex Holmes OBE is Deputy CEO of The Diana Award, the charity inspired by Princess Diana’s belief in the transformative power of young people. He leads work to recognise and support changemakers around the world, helping them build the skills and confidence to grow their impact. He is also a Director at BBC Children in Need, where he focuses on We Move FWD, a ten-year commitment and fund creating opportunities for Black children and young people and Black-led organisations.

Driven by his own experience of bullying, Alex founded the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors programme in 2004. The peer-led initiative has since trained more than 50,000 young people and educators across the UK and internationally, and is active in over 5,000 schools.

Alex advises major technology and social media platforms on youth safety and online harms, and is a regular media contributor, including on ITV This Morning and CBBC Newsround. He has also contributed to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s work on the National Youth Strategy as an expert adviser.

He has been recognised as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree and received the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award. In 2017, he was named a Queen’s Young Leader by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his work tackling bullying and championing young people across the Commonwealth. Alex is also a trustee board member of the newly established Queen Elizabeth Trust, one of the recommendations of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee.

Anna Keay OBE

Dr Anna Keay OBE is a historian, curator and broadcaster born and brought up in the West Highlands of Scotland. She read Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford and has a Ph.D. from Queen Mary, University of London. She was formerly a Curator of Historic Royal Palaces and the Curatorial Director of English Heritage.

Dr Keay is currently Director (CEO) of the historic buildings charity the Landmark Trust, which works to save and repair endangered historic buildings. The charity’s project to revive derelict Astley Castle in Warwickshire won the Stirling Prize for architecture in 2013.

Anna is a Trustee of the Royal Collection Trust and the Pilgrim Trust. She has written and broadcast widely on British history and culture including contributing to BBC coverage of the Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of HM The King. Her most recent book, The Restless Republic (William Collins, 2022) won the Duff Cooper Prize for Non-Fiction and was The Sunday Times History Book of the Year, 2022.

Sandy Nairne CBE FSA

Sandy Nairne is a writer and curator and until 2015 was Director of the National Portrait Gallery. He has previously worked at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Arts Council, and as Director of Programmes at Tate.

He is Chair of the Art Fund, Deputy Chair of the National Trust, Chair of the Fabric Advisory Committee at St Paul’s Cathedral and supports Maggie’s cancer care centres as art advisor. He is a member of the Bank of England Banknote Character Advisory Committee and the arts and humanities panel of the Wolfson Foundation. For several years he was Chair of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group.

His publications include State of the Art, 1987, the anthology Thinking about Exhibitions, 1996, The 21st Century Portrait, Art Theft and the Case of the Stolen Turners, 2011, and The Coincidence of Novembers, 2020. He is the co-author of a biography of Lord Desborough published by Unbound in early 2024.

In 2011 he was appointed CBE and elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Sir William Shawcross CVO

Sir William Shawcross has dedicated a significant portion of his life to the field of writing, with a particular focus on subjects related to our constitutional monarchy. In 2002, he authored “Queen and Country,” a book that complemented his BBC1 television series, serving as the flagship publication for the Golden Jubilee.

In 2003, Sir William was honoured with Her late Majesty The Queen’s gracious invitation to pen the Official Biography of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, which was subsequently published in 2009. In 2014, with the Queen’s permission, he undertook the editing and publication of a selection of the Queen Mother’s letters, titled “Counting One’s Blessings.”

Transitioning to public service in 2012, Sir William assumed the role of Chairman of the Charity Commission, a position he held until 2018. Subsequently, he conducted a study for the Foreign Secretary, focusing on Colonel Gaddafi’s covert military and financial support for the IRA.

Sir William was appointed by the Home Secretary to serve as the Independent Reviewer of the Home Office’s counter-extremism programme, Prevent, in 2021. He currently holds the position of Commissioner for Public Appointments.

1. YouGov, Queen Elizabeth II and the Commonwealth ↩