Queen Elizabeth I & Mary Queen of Scots

Guides of London
Aug 5
2 min read

Fleet Street was once the beating heart of Britain’s newspaper industry. It is also home to these two statues. The one on the left shows Queen Elizabeth I of England. It is believed to be the oldest public statue in the City of London as well as being the only surviving statue of the Queen that was created in her lifetime. It was once housed on Ludgate, which was located east of its current location outside of the church of St Dunstan in the West.

Heading east down Fleet Street, you will see the historic Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub. Next to that is Mary Queen of Scots house. The building was commissioned by the wonderfully named Sir John Tollemache Sinclair, Liberal MP. He was Scottish and had a fondness for the Stewart monarchy.

Elizabeth and Mary were cousins, both being granddaughters of Henry VII of England. Whereas Elizabeth is famous for being the virgin Queen, Mary was married three times. Mary’s last marriage was to Jame Hepburn, who was implicated in the murder of her second husband.  This caused an uprising against her and her husband which led to Mary being forced to abdicate the throne. Mary fled to England in the hope of being protected by her cousin, but all she did was spend the next eighteen years in custody.

Elizabeth was a Protestant whereas Mary was a Catholic. The period in which they lived was rife with religious turmoil and many English Catholics felt that Mary was the legitimate Queen. Mary was not a canny operator like Elizabeth and was eventually found guilty of plotting against her cousin and executed. The two women never met, and these two statues are considerably closer than they ever were in real life.