A statue of Queen Victoria was erected at Albert Park, Auckland, in 1899. The second monument to Queen Victoria in New Zealand, the bronze statue was funded by public donations encouraged by Auckland politicians and the New Zealand Herald in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Following applications from various British and New Zealand artists, the statue was commissioned to British portrait sculptor Francis John Williamson. It was one of nine variants of his 1887 statue erected at the Royal College of Surgeons, allegedly a favourite of the future Edward VII.