A new statue of Queen Elizabeth II recently erected in the small town of Antrim in Northern Ireland has sparked mixed reactions, with some accusing it of being disloyal to the monarch who died two years ago.
The statue, created by local artist Anto Brennan, depicts Queen Elizabeth II dressed in Scottish style, including a kilt, jacket, boots and a scarf around her head.
Behind her stand her husband, Prince Philip, who died in 2021, and two corgis, the sovereign’s favorite dogs.
“The face just doesn’t look like him,” Eddie Smyth, a 52-year-old worker from the city, told AFP.
The statue “bears no resemblance to her, corgis are better made than the Queen, in my opinion,” agrees Lorraine Barker, a 59-year-old English tourist.
A sentiment shared by Noel Wilson, 62, and his wife Dorothy, 61, who travelled from the neighbouring town of Ballymena.
“We came to see because we heard people talking about it,” says Noel, who indeed finds that “corgis are the most similar.”
The pose and her clothes make her “look like an old lady going to the market to buy potatoes,” jokes Gabor Laszlo, a 50-year-old Hungarian tourist.
After posting a photo of the sculpture on social media, Antrim and Newtownabbey Council, which commissioned the work to mark the second anniversary of Elizabeth II’s death, was met with criticism and has since blocked comments.
Responding to the criticism, he acknowledged that art could provoke “different opinions”, but that he was “delighted” with the “generally positive” reviews he received.
The statue “immortalises Her Majesty in a dignified pose, and reflects her lifelong dedication to public service,” he added.
Some passers-by interviewed by AFP seem to actually appreciate the work.
“It is a very good representation of the warm and affectionate memory she leaves with the British population,” said Stephen Barker, an English tourist, praising “an excellent work.”
Roy Hill, a Canadian tourist in his nineties, calls it a “wonderful” and “very moving” image.
“It brings back a lot of memories. I’m old enough to remember Queen Elizabeth as a young girl, at her coronation,” he adds.
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