Remembrance Day Services: previous years

[Duke]

Thanks wymanda for your reply! :) So that is to say there is no protocol on this matter. But The Duke of Edinburgh is also colonel-in-chief of many regiments and he wear the uniform of the Grenadier Guards at the trooping of colours.

[sharon_rose]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...1/s1241708.htm

Queen Elizabeth leads poignant tribute to Britain's war dead

Queen Elizabeth II has led a two-minute silence in Britain to remember the fallen of World War I, a particularly poignant tribute with British troops still in conflict in Iraq.

Before Big Ben struck to mark the beginning of the silence, the queen, and her husband Prince Phillip, laid wooden crosses in memory of the fallen as part of the annual Field of Remembrance ceremony.

The ceremony coincided with Armistice Day when, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, those who laid down their lives in World War I were remembered.

Each year, relatives and friends of the dead plant a small cross in the plot of grass at Westminster Abbey, each adorned with a blood-red poppy, the name and rank of a fallen loved one and a message of commemoration.

The crosses, laid out in regimental order by the Royal British Legion, Britain's leading veterans' charity, included six honouring the Black Watch soldiers who have died in Iraq since the start of the conflict.

The Scottish regiment is currently stationed 40 kilometres south-west of Baghdad to relieve US-led forces fighting to secure the nearby city of Fallujah.

At the Black Watch headquarters in Perth, central Scotland, the regimental flag was at half-mast on Thursday in remembrance of five servicemen who have lost their lives in the last fortnight alone.

The 850-strong Black Watch battle group was controversially deployed last month to the more dangerous US-controlled zone of Iraq from their base in Basra, southern Iraq, ahead of the US assault on Fallujah.

Fifteen crosses, planted by their regiments, remembered the other British servicemen and women who have also died in Iraq this year.

Dressed in black, the queen stood solemnly before a cross of poppies to observe a two-minute silence at 11:00am. Her husband stood to attention by her side.

Two trumpeters sounded the end of the two-minute silence from the parapet of nearby Saint Margaret's Church at Westminster.

In the grounds to the east of the Abbey lay the thousands of wooden crosses, bearing blood-red poppies, commemorating the lives of those who died at war.

Sara Jones, the widow of a hero of Britain's 1982 campaign against Argentina over the Falkland Islands, read the words: "At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them."

Ms Jones accompanied the queen and her husband as they toured the Field of Remembrance and spoke to veterans.

The queen paused at the Black Watch regimental plot and spoke to a senior officer representing the regiment.

Later on Thursday, the Royal British Legion will stage a flypast and drop 1.3 million poppy petals above the River Thames in central London.

The petals - one for every British and Commonwealth service person killed in action since the beginning of World War I - will be dropped between Tower and Westminster bridges by a Douglas Dakota DC3 aircraft during a two-minute flypast.

The river will be lit up in red every night until Sunday when the queen, accompanied by about 9,000 veterans, will lay a wreath at the Cenotaph war memorial in central London.

The Field of Commemoration was first opened in 1936 by the queen's mother, who for many years laid a cross in memory of her brother who was killed in World War I.

Armistice Day marks the end of the World War I on November 11, 1918, when the guns fell silent at 11:00am.

"Remembrance Sunday" honours soldiers who have died or were injured in all of Britain's military engagements.

World War I, the Great War, as it became known, lasted from 1914 to 1918 and took the lives of 956,700 British Empire soldiers, some 705,000 of them British.

[sharon_rose]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...7574?source=PA

Queen leads silent tribute
11 November 2004

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will today lead the nation in a two-minute silence on Armistice Day.

They each put a Cross of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey and met war veterans from past and more recent conflicts.



This year's Field of Remembrance ceremony coincides with Armistice Day when, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, those who laid down their lives for peace and freedom are remembered.

A bugler sounded the Last Post to signal observance of the two-minute silence.

The Queen and the Duke opened the Field of Remembrance, in central London, where hundreds of small wooden crosses, planted in the ground and adorned with a blood-red poppy, bear the name of a fallen loved one and message of commemoration.

The simple crosses are laid out by the ex-Service charity, the Royal British Legion, in regimental order in the grounds to the east of the Abbey.

For many years the opening ceremony was performed by the Queen Mother.

A Field of Remembrance will also be opened in Cardiff by Second World War veteran Sir Tasker Watkins, 85, who won the Victoria Cross in 1944 as a major in the Welsh Regiment and later went on to become a Privy Counsellor, Lord Justice of Appeal and Deputy Chief Justice of England.

Armistice Day marks the end of the First World War on November 11, 1918, when the guns fell silent at 11am.

According to the British Legion, more than three-quarters of the population, some 45 million people, are expected to pause for the two-minute silence which commemorates all those who have given their lives in all conflicts, including the Iraq War. "This has become by far the biggest annual demonstration of public support for any cause in the country," said a British Legion spokesman.

[pdas1201]

Pics from the Remembrance Day, 2004

[HMQueenElizabethII]

The Queen looked very sad.Did she cry?In 2002 when she attended,she cried.
Did The Wessexes attend?And Princess Royal,Andrew?

[Anna_R]

HM Queen Elizabeth II at Remembrance Day 2004 - From Colour Press


http://www.colourpress.com/index.cfm...reSerieNo=3489

[james]

No one else except the Queen & Phillip attend this event. But I do hope Prince William attends the Royal Festival of Remembrance and the Cenotaph event bearing in mind that boys as young as 19 (three years younger than William) have been ( and still are being) slaughtered in Iraq.

[Reina]

I luv that Great Britain has these ceremonies. This is an awesome way to remember those who have sacrificed so much for their country. Go QEII!

[pdas1201]

some more pics of attendees, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, Countess Sophie of Wessex, Prince William

[HMQueenElizabethII]

Yes,this is the first time William attend the Rememberance Day.

[A.C.C.]

More pictures of the Remembrance Service at the Cenotaph, Whitehall, November 14, 2004.

A closeup of the Countess of Wessex at the Remembrance Service

A closeup of Prince William attending his first Remembrance Day Service

Timothy Lawrence, the Countess of Wessex, and Prince William at the service

A sideview of The Queen leading tributes at the Remembrance Service

Sophie, Countess of Wessex and her nephew Prince William

A closeup of Queen Elizabeth II at the Remembrance Day Service

Prince William singing at the Cenotaph

HM The Queen laying a wreath during the Remembrance Service at the Cenotaph, Whitehall

[PrincessofEurope]

not sure if there is already a thread on this but with it nearly being Remembrance Sunday i thought it would be a good idea to look back at the previuos occassions

according to reports by Richard Kay in the Daily Mail both Prince William and Prince Edward will lay a wreath on sunday for the first time - i actually think it could be possible as William was previously only training to be an officer in the army and now he has passed out from sandhurst it is quite likely that he will lay a wreath it is the next stage in his training to be king

[BeatrixFan]

It's interesting that this year the Sunday will actually be the 11th. Prince Edward doesn't usually lay a wreath and I can't see why William would. I think the rule is that if they 'see' action then they're allowed to come down from the balcony. William stood with Camilla last year, I assume he'll do the same this year.

And of course, there's another PM there this time. So the line will be Maggie, John, Tony and Gordon.

[Skydragon]

Originally Posted by BeatrixFan

It's interesting that this year the Sunday will actually be the 11th. Prince Edward doesn't usually lay a wreath and I can't see why William would. I think the rule is that if they 'see' action then they're allowed to come down from the balcony. William stood with Camilla last year, I assume he'll do the same this year.

And of course, there's another PM there this time. So the line will be Maggie, John, Tony and Gordon.

William and Edward are among the BRF laying wreaths this year at the cenotaph.

[CasiraghiTrio]

Palace Press Release for the events of 8-11 November

8 November
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh opened the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey, planted a cross, and met veterans.
For further details see the Royal British Legion press release.

[Warren]

To keep this thread a record of the Remembrance Services, posts discussing the validity of Prince William's participation have been moved here.

Warren
British Forums moderator