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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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was something to analyse,\u201d he said. \u201cHow would people in Kukes react when they see the statue? It wasn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ MORE <\/strong> I’m one of Europe’s last sworn virgins – it doesn’t stop men trying to marry me<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cEnglish people identify with the Queen and I wanted to see if the people in Kukes also do.\u201d<\/p>\n So Tufa got to work with his colleagues at his former employer Top Channel, one of the leading TV stations in Albania.<\/p>\n They hired an artist who could create a statue-like figure from polystyrene and in order to make sure they weren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t understand the difference between the actress and the Queen,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n By around 10am there was a steady stream of passers-by.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to see how people would react,\u201d Tufa continued. \u201cMost 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.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the experiment did not last long. Local police spotted the statue and decided to cart it off.<\/p>\n Tufa said: \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n It turned out the stunt had not been well-received by the man in the highest office of Kukes; the mayor.<\/p>\n \u201cHe 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,\u201d Tufa added.<\/p>\n Instead of getting his statue back, the journalist was arrested.<\/p>\n Don’t miss… <\/strong> ![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/78\/590x\/secondary\/5105661.jpg?r=1702043538095\")
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