Stand in Trafalgar Square in the middle of London and gaze south-west at the landmark Admiralty Arch that leads to the Mall. Its association with Britain’s Queen Victoria is not as obvious as you may think.

During her reign, an architecture competition was held to build something on this site. Queen Victoria was well-known for her bad taste in art, so when she insisted on being the judge everyone was horrified.

This led to a tricky situation – should they snub the queen, or should they take her first choice and impose that on London for eternity?

The committee that gathered the designs hatched a plan. They presented the Queen with the best and with the worst proposals. They hoped that even her bad taste would notice such an obvious difference.

But, as legend has it, she chose the worst one. Which is kind of hard to believe because you wouldn’t think of Admiralty Arch as being ugly. British magazines even reported this legend in the 1980s, but it is just a story.

Take a look at the latin inscription along the top of the arch.

It reads, in Latin, “In the tenth year of King Edward VII, to Queen Victoria, from most grateful citizens, 1910.” The real story is that they built the Arch to commemorate the King’s mother after she had died.

Which suggests that Queen Victoria’s taste was so bad it lasted nine years after she died!

The UK government recently sold the lease to a private company to convert it into a luxury hotel. Given its location, and the views it commands, this would be a splendid central location for tourists. I just hope they design a cocktail bar just above the central arch!

What’s your opinion of the Admiralty Arch – horrible carbuncle or magnificent building?