Norman Foster, a British architect who was appointed to the Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth II, has paid tribute to the monarch after she passed away yesterday at the age of 96.”I had the privilege to know Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for the last five decades of her remarkable 70-year reign as our Monarch,” Foster said in his statement. “During that time, I and my colleagues were honored to welcome her on many occasions when she celebrated projects for which we had been commissioned.”
During her reign, which is the longest in British history, the Queen opened a host of major buildings in the UK and the Commonwealth, including London’s Stansted Airport in 1991 and the Great Court at the British Museum in 2000, both projects by Foster’s studio Foster + Partners.
Queen’s “leadership, loyalty, and regal humility were faultless”
In 1997, the Queen appointed Foster, whose full title is Lord Foster of Thames Bank OM, to the Order of Merit, a mark of distinction that only the monarch can bestow and is currently held by just 18 recipients, including Foster, James Dyson, David Hockney, and Tim Berners-Lee. Foster called the distinction his “greatest honor”.
“It is a great privilege and honor to be appointed to the Order of Merit – an award which is in the sole gift of the Sovereign,” he said.