Charles I
Charles I stands in the City of Westminster, beside Trafalgar Square in London. This bronze equestrian statue shows the king bareheaded, wearing armour and the Order of the Garter. Hubert Le Sueur created it around 1630 to 1633, making it London’s oldest bronze statue.
Sir Richard Weston commissioned the work for his gardens at Roehampton. Parliament ordered its destruction during the Civil War, but the goldsmith responsible hid it instead. Charles II brought it out after the Restoration and installed it at this site in 1675. Sir Christopher Wren designed the pedestal, whose reliefs by Joshua Marshall show Stuart arms, two putti, a lion, a unicorn and trophies of weapons.
The horse’s left foreleg carries Le Sueur’s signature on its base plate. The sculpture survived theft, damage and wartime danger, including removal during the Second World War. Its setting once held Charing Cross, an Eleanor cross demolished by Parliament in 1647.
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myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.