A STATUE of Her Majesty The Queen is set to be installed at York Minster.

The statue would be installed in an empty niche, or recess, at the front of the Minster to mark the Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

But details of the statue design are a closely guarded secret and it will be unveiled to the public at an event to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee.

The Rt Revd Dr Jonathan Frost, Dean of York Minster, says in a planning application for the statue: “Details of the statue design are also confidential and need to be given only essential and limited circulation so that the city of York can plan a public ‘reveal’ of the statue in 2022 in conjunction with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, which are being planned and programmed with [the] Chapter.”

The Minster’s neighbourhood plan includes proposals for a new public square, to be called the Queen Elizabeth Square.

According to planning documents, the niche where the new statue is set to be installed may never have had a statue placed within it before.

The news comes as Oxford University students reportedly made a decision to remove the Queen’s picture from their common room, because she is a symbol of colonialism.

Members of the Magdalen College Middle Common Room, which is made up of post-graduate students, overwhelmingly voted to remove the portrait, according to reports.

On Tuesday evening, the Education Secretary tweeted: “Oxford University students removing a picture of the Queen is simply absurd.”