equestrian statue of Charles I

The equestrian statue of Charles I stands in the City of Westminster at Charing Cross. It is the oldest bronze statue in London and marks the traditional centre of the city. The statue sits on a Portland stone pedestal with a carved coat of arms. It faces down Whitehall towards the Banqueting House, where Charles I was executed in 1649. The site was once home to one of the Eleanor crosses built by Edward I. The statue was commissioned in 1630 by Richard Weston, Charles’s Lord High Treasurer, for his garden in Roehampton. After the English Civil War, it was sold to a metalsmith who hid it to prevent its destruction. Following the Restoration, the statue was recovered and installed in its current location in 1675. The pedestal was added at this time, designed by Joshua Marshall, mason to Charles II. The statue shows Charles I on horseback, wearing armour and holding a baton. The horse’s left forefoot bears the date 1633, when the bronze was likely cast. A bronze tablet on the pedestal explains repairs made after the Second World War. The sword and Order of the Garter were stolen in 1844 but later replaced. The plinth was cleaned for the first time in three centuries in 1977.