Overview

• In May, the Friends of the Washington Statue, founded by architect John Gerber, removed the century-old bronze figure for cleaning, structural repairs, and placement on a new limestone plinth.
• Governor Glenn Youngkin presided over the rededication alongside US and UK ambassadors and former prime ministers Theresa May and David Cameron.
• A time capsule was interred under the statue’s base and a small amount of Virginia soil was added as a symbolic tribute to its 1914 origins.
• Historians, including Douglas Bradburn of Mount Vernon, debunked the claim that the figure originally stood on imported Virginia clay or that Washington refused to set foot on English ground.
• Reactions among Londoners ranged from pride in celebrating US-UK ties to discomfort over honoring a Revolutionary War leader during current transatlantic tensions.