PRINCE William and Kate’s ex-neighbours Rose Hanbury and Lord Cholmondeley have installed 100 statues of naked people in the grounds of their stately home.
The bizarre figures have been spotted on the lawn at Houghton Hall, just four miles from Kate and William’s ‘favourite place’ Amner Hall in Sandringham, Norfolk.
The royal couple now live full-time in their Windsor home, Adelaide Cottage.
The 6ft-tall iron statues have been peppered across the Marquess and Marchioness of Cholmondeley‘s lawn as part of Angel of the North artist Sir Antony Gormley’s exhibition Time Horizon – which is open to the public for £22 a ticket.
Lord Cholmondeley, 63, aka film-maker David Rocksavage, admitted he feels “slightly apprehensive” about the display.
But he added: “We have this wonderful park and it’s ideal for sculpture.
“We are excited to have the opportunity to show this large-scale work by Antony Gormley for the first time in the UK.
“The 100 life-size sculptures will cover a much larger area than our previous shows, allowing visitors to experience more of the historic landscape surrounding the house.”
NAKED BODY
The 620kg statues, which come complete with metal genitals, are said to resemble Sir Antony’s naked body.
Similar statues were on display on Liverpool’s Crosby Beach but had to be dug up from the sand in 2021 when strong currents and shifting sand gave them a tilted form.
The Norfolk statues are all placed at the same level, with some buried and others raised on columns to create the even effect.
And they’re spread across 300 acres of land.
Gormley said he wants people “to roam far and wide”, adding: “Art has recently privileged the object rather than the experience that objects can initiate.
“Time Horizon is not a picture, it is a field and you are in it. The work puts the experience of the subject/visitor/protagonist on an equal footing with all material presences, organic and inorganic.
“The quality of the light, the time of the year, the state of the weather and the condition of your mind, body and soul are all implicated in the field, as is all the evidence within it of human activity already accomplished as well as the plethora of life forms that surround the hall.”
The Time Horizon exhibition was first installed in Catanzaro, Italy, in 2006.
The 100 life-size sculptures will cover a much larger area than our previous shows, allowing visitors to experience more of the historic landscape surrounding the house
Lord Cholmondeley
Sir Antony’s Another Place installation on Crosby Beach caused controversy when they were first placed facing towards the River Mersey Estuary in 2005.
Critics compared the piece to a “variety of giant dog poo” or “giant rabbit droppings”.
It comes after the Princess of Wales’s shock revelation that she is being treated for cancer has inspired hundreds of thousands to get checked.
Cancer charities and the NHS saw a surge in online visitors following Kate’s video address on Friday.
