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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
National
Tristan Cork

Face of Prince Andrew placed on statue of Queen Victoria in Bristol on day of Platinum Jubilee

A mask of Prince Andrew's face has been placed on the face of the statue of Queen Victoria in Bristol city centre, to mark the first day of the four day Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The mask was spotted on the statue, in College Green, at lunchtime on Thursday (June 2), along with a Union flag draped around the statue's shoulders.

The Duke of York is undertaking a limited role in the Platinum Jubilee celebrations this weekend, after paying a reported figure of £12 million to Virginia Guiffre in an out-of-court settlement after she alleged she was sex-trafficked for him by Jeffrey Epstein and convicted sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

Read more: The incredible Bristol women who you say deserve a statue

The Grade II-listed statue, which is just round the corner from the plinth where the statue of slave trader Edward Colston once stood, was erected in 1888 and unveiled by Prince Albert Victor, Victoria's grandson.

Designed by Joseph Edgar Boehm, it's been moved several times in the area around College Green, and a time capsule that was originally buried underneath it was dug up in 2004 and is now in the Bristol Museum.

For a long time it was the only statue of a woman in Bristol - until last year when a statue of Henrietta Lacks was unveiled at Royal Fort House by Bristol University, and a statue of toilet attendant Veronica Hughes was installed by guerrilla artist Getting Up To Stuff on the Downs.

The statue of Queen Victoria on College Green in Bristol has been covered with a face mask of Prince Andrew (Bristol Live)

It's not the first time the statue has been the subject of alteration. In January 2016, feminist street artist Vaj added legs and pubic hair to the lower half of the figure.

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