On 1 November 1973, Queen Elizabeth II joined the widow of Sir Winston Churchill, Clementine, Baroness Spencer-Churchill, for the unveiling of a statue commemorating the former Prime Minister in Westminster’s Parliament Square. The statue stood on the north-east corner of the square, a spot that Churchill had described in the 1950s as “where my statue will go“. The ceremony was also attended by the serving Prime Minister, Edward Heath, as well as four former Prime Ministers.
In a speech before the unveiling, the Queen said: “He will be remembered for many things in peace and in war, in politics and in literature, and for his greatness as a parliamentarian from the time he came of age to the day of his death. The House of Commons was at the centre of his thought and his affections. He faced its hostility without bitterness and lived to receive its standing ovations. He was enthusiastic in debate, imperturbable in adversity, and generous in triumph.“
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