Queen Victoria is the latest colonial-era figure to be targeted by campaigning university students, who are demanding that a statue of the monarch at Royal Holloway be removed.
Hundreds of students from across Britain are expected to converge outside Oriel College at Oxford University on 9 March to support #RhodesMustFall, the campaign to remove the statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes, and demand for a scholarship fund to be established “for the victims of Rhodes’s crimes”.
The Sunday Times reports that they will be joined by students from Royal Holloway, University of London, who back #VictoriaMustFall, a campaign against campus statues of the monarch, who ruled Britain during a period marked by great empire expansion.
A large statue of the Queen Victoria in front of the Surrey-based university bears her title, “the Empress of India”.
In an article published online last month, Royal Holloway student Grace Almond, also a supporter of #RhodesMustFall, described Queen Victoria as “someone who sanctioned so many colonial exploits”, and laments “just how far white supremacy and racism is ingrained in our university”.
Last month, campaigners said they would “redouble” their efforts to remove the statue of Rhodes after Oriel College decided to retain it. They also warned the campaign could spread to encompass the removal of tributes to other colonial figures.
On 9 March, students will march to the Codrington Library at All Souls College, named after and funded by slave owner and colonial governor Christopher Codrington. They want the library be renamed after some of the slaves he owned.
They will also be joined by students from Cambridge University protesting its links to Jan Smuts, the former prime minister of the Union of South Africa.
A spokesman for Royal Holloway said: “We are glad that our students feel able to express their views.”
