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.