Prince Philip: A statue of the late royal ordered to be taken down in Cambridge

The Royal Family has the privilege of having things named and made after them. For decades, many organisations and committees have done things to honour the Royal Family members and their contribution towards their success. Cambridge University tried to do a similar thing for Prince Philip who was its chancellor for 35 years.

An abstract statue of the late Royal was made in 2014 but due to its construction, it was widely slammed as it looked nothing like Prince Philip - who was once mistaken for a gardener by Royal staff.

Prince Philip’s statue to be removed from Cambridge

According to Sky News, Prince Philip’s statue - ‘The Don’ - was retrospectively refused permission and taken down in 2014 as well. Ten years after it was first erected, the statue is now set to be removed after an enforcement notice was issued earlier this month.

The Unex Group - a property developer and land owners at Charter House where the statue is - installed the 4m abstract statue outside a city centre office block. Initially erected to mark Prince Philip’s 35 years as chancellor of Cambridge University, The Don cost £150,000 and sees the late Prince wearing an academic cap and gown.

Cambridge City Council has issued an enforcement notice to Unex Group demanding the statue to be removed by August, reports The Independent. Public art officer for the council, Nadine Black said that it was ‘possibly the poorest quality work that has ever been submitted to the council’ while another critic dubbed it ‘detritus masquerading as public art.’

She added that the statue wasn’t ‘site-specific.’ Katie Thornburrow, the executive councillor for planning, building control and infrastructure shared:

Nobody, apart from the wealthy property developer who commissioned it, seems to have a good word to say about it.

The backlash against the Prince Philip statue

While the statue was made with good intentions, the artwork has long been a bone of contention in the art world and local community alike. The ‘offensive’ artwork came to fruition despite planning permission from Cambridge Council and was labelled as the ‘worst artwork’ ever seen. When the statue was unveiled, it caused such an uproar that no artist wanted to claim the piece as their own. It was asked to be removed immediately after it was unveiled in 2014 and the new notice will mark its second removal from the land.

Prince Philip at Cambridge University

The late Royal - who had a 10 million inheritance - was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from December 1976 to June 2011. The university website describes him as ‘a Chancellor of vision and perspicacity’ and remembers his ‘insatiable, passionate interest in the work of the university.’ The Duke was particularly interested in engineering. He visited the University’s Department of Engineering regularly both before and during his time as Chancellor. Prince Philip used to visit the university several times a year and always found time to talk to students and researchers.

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Sources Used

Sky News: Prince Philip 'The Don' statue to be removed for second time after being branded as 'worst artwork ever seen'

The Independent: Prince Philip statue branded ‘worst artwork ever seen’ to be torn down by Cambridge Council

University of Cambridge website