London’s Albert Memorial has been slammed as “highly offensive” and “drawing on racial stereotypes” by Royal Parks.
The memorial, which towers over the nearby Royal Albert Hall, has stood in Kensington Gardens since 1872 – but now, custodians have slated the monument for representing “problematic” values.
On Royal Parks’ website, the memorial is criticised for “reflecting a Victorian view of the world that differs from mainstream views today”.
Its description continues: “Its representation of certain continents draws on racial stereotypes that are now considered offensive.”
The iconic landmark has come under fire
Wikimedia Commons
Royal Parks’ critique of the structure centres on four statues which represent Asia, Africa, America and Europe – which it calls reflective of a “Victorian view of European supremacy”.
The statues depict the continents through stereotypical people and animals from each continent, like a camel for Africa and an Indian elephant for Asia.
But Royal Parks highlight how one sculpture of an “uncivilised” man described as “rising up from barbarism” by contemporary guidebooks mirrored the “problematic” views of the time.
Though custodians also point out how the statues don’t explicitly represent the British Empire – rather that they “memorialise the nations that contributed to the Great Exhibition of 1851”.
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Royal Parks lambasted some of the colonial-era statues
Wikimedia Commons/Pexels
The website continues: “Though the Empire has traditionally been celebrated as a symbol of British supremacy, many today consider this view as problematic because colonialism often relied on the oppression and exploitation of people, resources and cultures.”
Royal Parks said that it updated its information about the statue late last year as part of an drive to “regularly review and update information about our landscape and heritage features, across all our parks to enhance visitor experience”.
But the description has come under fire online, with commentators weighing in to lambast parts of the “Albert in the Age of Empire” info-page.
Former Margaret Thatcher aide Nile Gardiner expressed his fury at the news; on social media, he wrote: “Complete insanity. These woke morons should be fired.”
The Royal Parks said that it updated its information about the statue late last year
Flickr
Elsewhere online, hundreds of social media users slated what they claimed formed part of a campaign to “eradicate our country and its history”.
Some pointed to the so-called “cancellation” of other monuments in the UK and US in the wake of 2020’s widespread Black Lives Matter protests – which had seen a swathe of statues removed, vandalised or even toppled.
The criticism follows the news that, just weeks ago, Glasgow Council was weighing up removing a set of statues of British military heroes pending a decision from an “antislavery working group”.
Glasgow’s SNP-led local authority had commissioned a review into public artwork following said BLM protests – and councillor Graham Campbell had said bronzes of Sir John Moore and Field Marshal Colin Campbell were especially problematic.
GB News has approached Royal Parks for comment.