A pair of bizarre 12ft-tall statues of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s heads have gone up for sale for £2k. The busts, made from chicken wire and plaster, have been sitting in the garden of pensioner Ben Bennett, 90, for nearly 12 years since the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
However, when Mr Bennett moved into a care home, his grandson, also named Ben, decided it was time for them to go. He has now listed the pair, which are 18ft wide, on Facebook marketplace for £2,000. Ben Inglis, 36, said his granddad had bought the statues from QVC in Battersea after the late Queen’s Jubilee but he did not know how much for.
Ben, from Windsor, said: “I remember we towed them on a trailer from a Jeep all the way from Battersea to Windsor.” “When we towed them out of London, all the open top bus tours were taking pictures and cheering and laughing us on.”
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The statues of the royal couple are attached by a steel frame, meaning they must ideally go as a pair. When new, they were covered in artificial flowers with real flowers planted along their base, although they have since experienced some wear and tear.
Ben said the statues had always been a bit of fun. The director of a car company explained: “We joke that we should put up an advertisement at the local fair and saying ‘the royals are here’ and tow them down.”
“The statues are visible from the road and all sorts used to stop and have a look. My grandad likes a chat and when he still lived there, he used to invite them and let them take photos next to them.”
Ben said his granddad is a “bit eccentric” and the statues, estimated to weigh between one and two tonnes, were added to his garden full of other “weird and wacky things”.
He explained: “He had a giant metal statue of a horse with Saladin, a sultan, on the back.” The tip of that statue was taller than the heads of these ones – they weighed about five tonnes and we had to get a lorry to lift it in and out.”
Ben said he’d had no serious offers yet but he hopes he’ll find someone to buy them as “they do turn heads”. A buyer would likely need to hire a crane or forklift to move them. Ben added: “I’m sad to see them go – with my grandad being elderly now, it does feel like the end of an era.”
Want more from MyLondon?Sign up to our daily newsletters for all the latest and greatest from across London here. “But I’d love to see someone else make good use of them. If I can’t do anything with them, someone else hopefully will.”
