The Red Dragon of Wales

This sculpture depicts The Red Dragon of Wales, one of the Queen's Beasts. The original Queen's Beasts were a set of ten heraldic statues produced by the Ministry of Works for the coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953 by renowned sculptor James Woodford. It was ultimately decided that they would be gifted to one of the Commonwealth governments and Canada was offered the Beasts. They accepted the offer in 1959 and they now stand in the Canadian Museum of History in Quebec. In 1956 a replica set of Beasts were made in Portland stone once again by James Woodford and donated to Kew. It is these sculptures that visitors to the gardens are greeted with when approaching the main entrance of the Palm House. The red dragon was a badge used by Owen Tudor, after the story of the dragon on Llewelyn the Last's castle grounds. His grandson, Henry VII, took it as a token of his supposed descent from Cadwaladr, the last of the line of Maelgwn. The beast holds a shield bearing a lion in each quarter; this was the coat of arms of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales.本雕塑为威尔士红龙（The Red Dragon of Wales），属于女王御兽（Queen's Beasts）系列之一。 原版女王御兽套装由十尊纹章雕塑组成，由英国工程事务部（Ministry of Works）委托知名雕塑家詹姆斯·伍德福德（James Woodford）制作，专为1953年6月2日伊丽莎白二世女王的加冕仪式打造。 经最终商议，该套御兽将赠予英联邦成员国政府，加拿大获赠全套御兽。加方于1959年接受捐赠，如今这批雕塑陈列于魁北克的加拿大历史博物馆（Canadian Museum of History）。 1956年，詹姆斯·伍德福德再次以波特兰石材（Portland stone）复刻全套御兽，并捐赠给英国皇家植物园邱园（Kew）。如今前往该植物园的游客，在抵达棕榈屋（Palm House）主入口时，映入眼帘的正是这批复刻雕塑。 威尔士红龙纹章最初由欧文·都铎（Owen Tudor）使用，其灵感源自最后一位卢埃林（Llewelyn the Last）的城堡领地内的红龙传说。欧文·都铎的孙子亨利七世（Henry VII）将该纹章作为其宣称源自卡德瓦拉德（Cadwaladr，梅尔格温家族最后一位传人）的血统象征。 这尊御兽手持一面盾牌，盾牌每一角均饰有雄狮，该纹样正是最后一位本土威尔士亲王卢埃林·阿普·格鲁菲德（Llywelyn ap Gruffudd）的纹章。