One thing about being Queen, especially if you hold the post for 68 years, is that lots of things get named after you. Here are ten in and around London.
1) Queen Elizabeth Reservoir(1962)
We start a mile outside the capital among the Walton reservoirs at West Molesey. The first two were dug in Edwardian times to store drinking water for a growing capital. A third much larger reservoir was authorised in 1935, but WW2 stalled construction by almost three decades so it got to be named after our Queen, not her parents. The QE2 Reservoir contains 20 billion litres of water, is surrounded by a 2½ mile-long embankment and supports the world's largest floating solar farm.
2) Queen Elizabeth Hall(1967)
Part of the Southbank complex, the QEH is a veritable feast of reinforced concrete. It was built on land previously used for the Festival of Britain, and opened on 1st March 1967 with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten. A recent attempt to replace the skateboarding undercroft with hospitality and retail units thankfully proved unsuccessful.
3) Queen Elizabeth II Stadium(1977)
The home of Enfield Town football club can be found at the end of Donkey Lane. It started out as an athletics track in 1939, with a splendid Art Deco pavilion (now Grade II listed) added in 1953. Its royal title was granted in the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee, around which time Coe, Ovett and Christie regularly trained here. Enfield Town FC arrived in 2011, and the stadium now (normally) hosts matches in the Isthmian League Premier Division.
4) Queen's Gardens(1983)
Adjacent to Croydon Town Hall, Queen's Gardens are a split-level recreational facility combining a Victorian garden (lower) with a modern geometric expanse (upper). They were opened by the Queen in 1983 to celebrate the borough's centenary. Major redevelopment works are underway replacing council offices at Taberner House with a cluster of four residential towers, to be called Queen's Quarter, while six towers to the north will become Queen's Square. It's unlikely Her Maj will return to do the honours.
5) QEII Centre(1986)
This postmodern conference centre at the heart of Westminster, designed by Powell Moya & Partners, was built across the combined sites of the Stationery Office and Westminster Hospital. Over 25 years passed between demolition in 1950 and the building's official opening by the Queen in 1986. If and when the Palace of Westminster is closed for major internal refurbishment, Lords and/or MPs may relocate here to continue their work.
6) Queen Elizabeth II Bridge(1991)
The Dartford Crossing started life as a tunnel, then two tunnels, with a cable-stayed bridge added a decade later. It was named after the Queen as a compromise after Thurrock residents objected to calling it the Dartford Bridge and Kent residents similarly objected to Thurrock. The bridge has a main span of 450 metres, tops out at 137m tall and carries traffic in a southbound direction only. Her Majesty unveiled its plaque on 30th October 1991.
7) Elizabeth Tower(2012)
The Palace of Westminster's clocktower houses the famous bell Big Ben and is London's premier architectural icon. Before 2012 its official name was the Clock Tower although it was more widely known as St Stephen's Tower, a nickname made popular by Victorian journalists. MPs proposed a change of name to the Elizabeth Tower in 2012, matching the honour paid to Queen Victoria in her diamond jubilee year when the King's Tower at the other end of the palace was renamed the Victoria Tower.
8) Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park(2013)
Initially simply the 'Olympic Park', this Leaside expanse was renamed after the Games in honour of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee... the other big 2012 event. She's visited more than once, most memorably leaping out of a helicopter during the Opening Ceremony, but has never official named the place.
9) The Queen's Terminal(2014)
First there was the Queens Building, an office block from whose roof terrace a generation of plane spotters watched comings and goings at Heathrow. The Queen opened that in 1955. It was demolished in 2009 along with the original Terminal 2 to make way for a much larger Terminal 2 which the Queen came back to open in 2014. One day Terminal 1 will go the same way and The Queen's Terminal will be further enlarged, aviation industry permitting.
10) Queen Elizabeth Terrace(2019)
Not everything in this list is on a grand scale. Morden is home to the largest estate owned by the Haig Housing Trust, formed in 1929 to provide housing assistance to ex-Service people and their dependants. 68 additional rental properties were added last September and duly opened by Her Majesty. Judging by the grin on her face, she greatly enjoyed meeting former Grenadier Alan and centenarian Ken before unveiling the plaque on Queen Elizabeth Terrace.
Finally, four that aren't named after her...
a) Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge(1543)
Wrong Queen Elizabeth. This is named after the first one, and was built for her father. b) Queen Elizabeth Hospital(2001)
Woolwich Common's major PFI project gets its name from the Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital which occupied the site from 1977 to 1995 and was opened by that other Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. c) Queen's Hospital(2006)
Romford's new hospital was not named after Her Majesty. As local MP Andrew Rosindell complained in Parliament at the time, "Queen’s does not seem to represent any particular monarch—our current queen or a previous one. It is a vague title that means very little. I and many others are also disappointed that such an important decision should be made without consultation, and it seems against the wishes of the NHS trust itself." d) Crossrail(202?)
Back in 2016 TfL were all too keen to name the purple line after Queen Elizabeth, but ever since the project stalled embarrassingly in 2018 their press releases have preferred to call it Crossrail so as not to tarnish the eventual royal brand. One day, but no day soon.
