People might wonder why there is a bronze statue of an elephant in Princes Street Gardens. It is a very poignant reminder of a tragic scandal that was uncovered in 2012 when it was discovered that for four decades the ashes of 250 babies had been secretly buried at Mortonhall Crematorium while the bereaved parents had been told that there were no ashes to give them.  As a result of the scandal a memorial garden was built at Mortonhall but some parents were too upset to go there so Andy Scott (who designed the Kelpies) was asked to design a new memorial.
He thought of elephants who never forget so made an elephant embossed with forget-me-not flowers.  A nearby plaque with small footprints and forget-me-not flowers states “In memory of our precious babies, gone but never forgotten.”