One Garden bringing together Neighbors, Commonwealth friends, and countless Angels.
Mission
The mission of The Queen Elizabeth II September 11th Garden is to develop and maintain a showplace garden reflecting the long history, shared friendship, common causes and sacrifices of the people of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and the United States of America.
History
November 1, 2005
The center stone was dedicated by Former HRH Prince of Wales & HRH Duchess of Cornwall.
May 29, 2009
HRH Prince Harry of Wales planted a magnolia tree and officially named the park “The British Garden at Hanover Square.”
July 6, 2010
HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh were welcomed to the Garden by the Right Honorable Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York, and Her Majesty met the British victims’ families of the 9/11 attacks and officially opened the Garden.
August 2011
The mission of the Garden was expanded to include the Commonwealth victims.
September 21, 2011
British Prime Minister David Cameron toured the Garden.
May 2, 2012
The Very Reverend Dr. John Hall, Dean of Westminster formally renamed the Garden, “The Queen Elizabeth II September 11th Garden, Inc.” officially dedicating the Garden as the memorial for all the Commonwealth victims of the 9/11 attacks and honoring Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee.
May 7, 2015
HRH Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex visited the Garden in honor of VE Day and unveiled the donor plaque.
September 11, 2021
20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Attended by many Commonwealth Ambassadors & Consuls General. Ceremony and tree planting led by UK Ambassador Karen Pierce.
September 11, 2022
November 13, 2022
Ceremony in the Garden with first singing of God Save the King
Second performance of God Save the King in the Garden
Founding
The creation of the Queen Elizabeth II September 11th Garden, in the heart of Lower Manhattan, was prompted by a desire to honor and memorialize the 67 British subjects who lost their lives in the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001. In 2002, the St. George’s Society, under the then presidency of William R. Miller, CBE, embraced the idea of creating a permanent garden memorial.
The Garden is administered by the British Memorial Garden Trust, Inc., a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded by the British Consulate and the St. George’s Society. The Garden’s newly expanded mission is to:
Celebrate the historic ties of friendship and unity between the United States of America, the Commonwealth countries and the United Kingdom.
Honour the British and Commonwealth victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Create a feeling of new life and growth in Lower Manhattan.
Bring British and Commonwealth heritage and arts initiatives to the community and City of New York.
Honour HM The Queen upon the occasion of Her Diamond Jubilee. From its beginnings, this New York City park has been funded through donations from foundations, individuals and corporations.
History of Hanover Square
The Short History of Downtown and Hanover Square New York as a “melting pot” goes back to Henry Hudson’s voyage – funded by the Dutch East India Company – to North America in 1608 that ended up in New York Harbor. New York City was named New Nederland and Manhattan was New Amsterdam which was its capital. New Amsterdam was cosmopolitan with 18 nationalities all valuing free trade, individual rights, and religious freedom. The West India Company in Amsterdam elected Peter Minuit as their first Governor. The Dutch settled and New Amsterdam became a thriving trading port; Peter Stuyvesant replaced Minuit as Director General.
In 1664, when the city came under British rule the name changed to New York, to honor the royal proprietor the Duke of York, later King James II.
In 1714, in honor of the accession of George I, the square was named Hanover Square echoing London’s Hanover Square.
During the American Revolution the city was occupied by the British and suffered brutally from wartime fires in 1776 and 1778.
A divided populace, a mass Tory exodus to Canada, New York’s recovery seemed in jeopardy. Figures like Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr came to the forefront. The shipping industry was increasing and because New York was a great port city the population surged. New York became a booming town again; however, construction and water supply did not keep up. On a freezing December night in 1835 a fire broke out, with the East River frozen and no water to extinguish the flames, over 700 buildings burned down. The original Hanover Square was no more.
Design & Development
The Garden was developed by English landscape designers Julian and Isabel Bannerman to incorporate the park’s footprint with the shape of the British Isles. A ribbon of Morayshire sandstone – quarried from the highlands of Scotland – wraps around the horticulture. A geography lesson, the sandstone is inscribed with the shires of the British Isles – from Aberdeen to Portland. The ‘Braemar’ stone, worn smooth over the years by the rushing waters of the River Dee near HM The Queen’s home in Balmoral, sits in the South end of the Garden marking the distance from New York to Aberdeen. The composition blends the rich tradition of English gardens with the urban American landscape. New York based garden designers Lynden B. Miller and Ronda M. Brands worked with the Bannerman’s design to create an enduring garden for all seasons, with plants that capture the spirit of an English Garden.
Reminiscences of the Commonwealth are places around the gate and slate path to symbolize the friendship between America and Britain. The four national flowers of the British Isles, rose for England, daffodils for Wales, thistle for Scotland, flax for Northern Ireland – are embossed on the finials of the Memorial Fence.
Gardens can be read like letters, each flower or plant capturing part of a memoir. Amongst the quarried stone and plantings, sent from the English to Americans in a time of mutual loss, this Garden can be read and reread in the days after, remembering, healing and ever cultivating.
Board
Royal Patron
The former Prince of Wales
Honorary Patron
Emma Wade Smith, OBE HM Consul General New York
Honorary Directors
Anthony Perez, Manhattan Borough Commissioner at NYC Parks
Heather Ridout AO, Consul General of Australia
Tom Clark, Consul General for Canada
Randhir Jaiswal, Consul General of India
A. Wright Palmer
Officers
Rennie McConnochie, Chairman
Rodney N.M. Johnson, MBE, Vice-Chairman
Nicholas Howard, CEO
Dan Allan, Co-CFO
Jonathan Egan, Co-CFO
Sarka Adams, Co-Secretary
Kirsty Daly, Co-Secretary
Isabel M. Carden, MBE, Treasurer
Directors
Mark A. Alexander
Robert H. Bathurst, MC SEAL, USN (Ret.)
Bradford E. Billet, CEM, OBE
Alec Burger
Allen K. Chepuri
Paul Chew
Richard Cunningham
Phoebe Diamond
Doug Elix, AO
Blair Fleming
Jonathan Hare
Tim Luke
Luke Parker Bowles
William J. Potter
Joseph A. Smith
Christopher G. Sztam
Lady Weatherstone
Hannah Young, HM Deputy Consul General
Chairman Emeritus
Victor E. Stewart
Advisory Board
Lewis H. Aaron
The Viscount Astor
William T. Castro
Richard Hamilton
John C. Harvey
Tom Hooper
Ranald Macdonald
Danny McDonald
Peter Poulakakos
Phil Scanlan, AM