This is the statue of king james ii, the last catholic king of england, in its original position in whitehall gardens behind the banqueting house. It was carved by grinling gibbons and cast in bronze showing the king in roman armour. At the time it was placed here in 1686 the area was part of whitehall palace, when the palace burnt down the area began to change around the statue although the banqueting house which was known until comparatively recently as the chapel royal survived the fire. In 1897 the statue was moved several yards to the garden of gwydyr house which is south of the banqueting house on whitehall. The garden was at the side of gwydyr house so the statue looked out over whitehall. That is until 1902 when it was moved again because of the coronation of edward vii. At the time it was felt inappropriate that a catholic king should be on the coronation route. The statue was subsequently placed at the end of the admiralty extension in an area of st. James's park known as the cambridge enclosure. This area was subsequently used for the building of the citadel in 1939. Again the statue was on its travels and after being in store during ww2 it was placed in front of the west wing of the national gallery in trafalgar square where it remains today. Date: 1897.
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