The Siege Bell Memorial was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992 to commemorate the military personnel and civilians who lost their lives during the Siege of Malta. The siege was a military campaign launched by Germany and Italy from June 1940 to November 1942 to control the strategically important island. The memorial was designed by the British sculptor Michael Sandle (born 1936), who had been baptised on HMS Ark Royal, a British aircraft carrier that played a pivotal role in the island’s defence.