The statue of Queen Anne (1665-1714) was placed here in 1712
to commemorate the completion of the Cathedral. The sculptor, Francis Bird
(1667-1731) also sculpted the reliefs around the cathedral’s doorway.
Queen Anne with a
crown on her head and the Order of St George around her neck is shown quite
regally holding the royal sceptre and orb.
She is surrounded by four female figures representing England, Ireland,
France and America over which she then ruled:
England is shown as Britannia complete with royal arms,
trident and breastplate. France has a
helmet with fleurs-de-lis and armed with a truncheon. America has a feathered head dress and skirt,
and is armed with bow and arrows. Note
her foot rests on a severed head with a lizard looking on. Ireland needs a new shirt, but instead of a weapon
has a harp.
Some historians consider Queen Anne a weak monarch, but the
fact that her reign was both stable and prosperous leaves room for discussion. Still she was known to enjoy the bottle and a
contemporary said “it was fitting she
was depicted with her rump to the church, gazing longingly into a wineshop.” A rhyme soon followed the erection of this
statue:
“Brandy nan,
brandy nan, now you’re left in the lurch,
Your face to
the ginshop, your back to the church.”
The original
(1712) marble statue had been attacked on three occasions by “lunatics”
(1743,1768 and 1882) and finally a sculptor proposed “Your Queen Anne has lost
many fingers and fragments you had better let me make another copy.” The
original along with the four lady attendants was removed in 1884 and ended up
in the gardens of Augustus J C Hare in Holmhurst, Sussex where it is now in a
bad state of repair. Anne has lost her
arms, Ireland has lost her harp, France is beheaded, and America is worse for
wear. The statue we see today is an 1886
stone copy of the original.
This is an excerpt from the FREE tour St Paul's Precincts found on www.obelisktours.co.uk
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