After the tragic passing of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022 Albanian freelance TV journalist Alton Tufa was wondering whether there was a way to find out how people in his country were feeling about the monarch’s death. He wanted to explore the relationship between the Queen and parts of the northern regions where an exodus of locals to the UK has been ongoing since the late 1990s.
The connection between towns in the region of Kukes and Britain is well established and visitors to towns will find restaurants named London, or in some cases Chingford, dotted along the main streets. So Tufa, who specialises in social experiment TV stunts, thought; how would locals in Kukes react if a statue of her majesty was installed in their local square?
“This was something to analyse,” he said. “How would people in Kukes react when they see the statue? It wasn’t just about the relationship Albanians have with England, the Queen opened the doors for Albanians many years ago to start a new life in London or in England generally.”
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“English people identify with the Queen and I wanted to see if the people in Kukes also do.”
So Tufa got to work with his colleagues at his former employer Top Channel, one of the leading TV stations in Albania.
They hired an artist who could create a statue-like figure from polystyrene and in order to make sure they weren’t seen to be disrespecting the recently deceased royal made it a likeness of one of the actresses who portrays her in hit Netflix show The Crown; Maggie Smith.
“A lot of people don’t understand the difference between the actress and the Queen,” he added.
On the day of the experiment Tufa travelled from Tirana to Kukes for 2am. He searched the town for a spot where the sculpture would have most prominence and, on finding it, set up cameras nearby.
By around 10am there was a steady stream of passers-by.
“We wanted to see how people would react,” Tufa continued. “Most of the people were taking pictures with the statue and a lot of people were saying some good words about Albanians who are working in or want to work in England. Everyone was super positive.”
However, the experiment did not last long. Local police spotted the statue and decided to cart it off.
Tufa said: “They took the statue inside an office, I tried to get in and take it back but they didn’t allow me. It was a difficult situation.”
It turned out the stunt had not been well-received by the man in the highest office of Kukes; the mayor.
“He got offended by it, he didn’t understand the value and the purpose of the act. We just wanted to give a message about the good relationship between Queen Elizabeth and the citizens of Kukes,” Tufa added.
Instead of getting his statue back, the journalist was arrested.
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“I was in the police station for around five to six hours, It’s not it’s something that I would ever imagine,” he said.
About six months later the mayor was booted out of office in disgrace after a video emerged of him engaging in a sex act circulated on social media.
But Tufa’s arrest was not the end of the drama with the statue. In the days that followed the incident was misconstrued by international media.
It began being reported that there were plans foot to build a statue of the Queen in Kukes. Tufa is keen for there to be no further misunderstanding, stressing he is a big fan of Britain, the Queen and Brexit.
He continued: “I have big respect for every citizen of the UK because they are very smart. They are one of the most important nations in the world and they got rid of the EU which means they are very intelligent.
Reflecting on the stunt he only wishes there had been more time to see how others would have reacted. “All of the citizens of Kukes were very positive the only thing that was wrong was the reaction of the officials of the town,” Tufa said.
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