Two statues of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were unveiled at Canterbury Cathedral today - the first royal sculptures to be installed there during her reign. The monarch arrived at Capel-le-Ferne in Kent this afternoon to open a new £3.5million visitor centre that honours the Battle of Britain war heroes. She then made her way to the cathedral with husband Prince Philip to reveal the figures, which have been created to mark her Diamond Jubilee. Scroll down for video . The statues of the Queen (left) and the Duke of Edinburgh (right) were unveiled at Canterbury Cathedral today . The statues were carved by sculptor Nina Bilbey, 47, from Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, and will stand by the west door in the Kent cathedral. The Dean of Canterbury, the Very Revd Dr Robert Willis, said: 'The new royal statues will be a splendid addition to the cathedral and they will be a sign of the high respect and affection that everyone at Canterbury has for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.' She earlier opened visitor and education centre, The Wing, which offers an interactive experience of the story of the Battle of Britain. The building follows the wing plan of R J Mitchell's best-known fighter, the Supermarine Spitfire - one of the two aircraft credited with doing the most to win the battle in 1940. The Queen and The Duke were greeted by Prince Michael of Kent, who is a patron of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, and Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydo. She then met with  some of the last surviving Battle of Britain pilots of Winston Churchill's famous 'few' at the National Memorial to the Few above the white cliffs in Kent. The statues were carved by sculptor Nina Bilbey, 47, from Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee . They are the first royal sculptures to be installed at the Kent Cathedral during her reign and it is her first visit to Canterbury in 13 years today . She has followed in the footsteps of her mother, the Queen Mother, who unveiled the memorial at Capel-le-Ferne, near Folkestone, on July 9, 1993. A flypast of a Hurricane, Spitfire and Typhoon took place over the English Channel where RAF pilots defied Germany's Luftwaffe more than 70 years ago. More than 500 of the 3,000 or so men of RAF Fighter Command died in the Battle of Britain between July and October 1940. Of the remainder, a further 814 died before the end of the war. As the battle raged in August 1940, Churchill uttered his famous words in a speech to Parliament: 'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.' Nina Bilbey, who was commissioned to carve the royal statues, stands proudly with the finished figures . Nina Bilbey, 47, is a sculptor and senior carving tutor at The City and Guilds Art School in London. She gained a B.A. Hons in Sculpture at St Martins School of Art before gaining a post graduate certificate in education from the University of Leeds. She has since done a diploma in stone masonry. Since 2000 Nina has specialised in stone carving and has been commissioned for several statues including ones for  Hampton Court flower show. She has also carved Gargoyles for St. Pancras Station and Saint Georges Chapel Windsor, and projects for The Houses of Parliament, The Royal Pavilion Brighton and Hereford Cathedral. The founder member of 'The London Carving Co-Op', Nina has spent six months working on the Royal Barge and has just finished a major carving commission for a Private house in Cheshire. She blogged about the royal commission on her website as she went along, showing the original sketches, the cast coloured in bronze powder and a half sized model version. Explaining how she made the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh statues, she said that it was very 'difficult getting the likeness and modelling tiny chains'. She said she spoke to Lady Hussey, one of the Queen's Lady in Waiting, who provided photographs and advised on how to do the hair. Pictures of the original designs were sent to the palace, which decided that the Prince should hold his robes, rather than gloves as she had planned.
The Queen arrived at Capel-Le-Ferne to open new £3.5million visitor centre . She also met with last surviving Battle of Britain pilots of Churchill's 'few'
Accompanied by Prince Philip she will unveil two new sculptures today . It is the first royal sculptures to be installed at Cathedral during her reign .