King Charles III leads Remembrance Sunday
Newslooks- LONDON (AP)
The U.K fell silent for two minutes on Remembrance Sunday as King Charles III led the nation in honoring servicemen and women who lost their lives in past conflicts.
Big Ben chimed 11 times to mark the start of the silence as thousands of veterans, including some who had served during the World War II looked on solemnly under gray London skies.
It followed a two-minute silence signalled by the first chimes of Big Ben striking 11am and a volley from a gun fired by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery at nearby Horse Guards Parade.
Thousands of medal-wearing veterans, military families and the public packed Whitehall in central London for the traditional ceremony and watched as the sovereign laid a wreath at the memorial.
Their number gets fewer each year – adding poignancy to the appearance of Charles, leading the ceremony for the first time since the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II in September. She had served as a mechanic and truck driver during the last months of World War II, and continued to join the annual commemoration in London well into her 90s.
The veterans, with brightly shined shoes and medals gleaming on their lapels, watched Charles lay a newly designed wreath of poppies at the foot of the Cenotaph, London’s war memorial. Other royals, including the Prince of Wales and the Earl of Wessex, as well as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the leader of the opposition also laid wreaths.
Many thousands thronged the streets of London to watch the occasion and join in the silence, though they applauded when 10,000 veterans later marched past.
Remembrance Sunday is marked every year in the U.K. on the closest Sunday to Armistice Day on Nov. 11 with the wearing of poppies and a national two-minute silence observed at 11 a.m. It marks the moment the guns fell silent in 1918 at the end of World War I.
The solemn moment of reflection ended with buglers from the Royal Marines playing the Last Post.
The head of the armed forces, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, told Sky News there was a “special poignancy” to Remembrance Sunday this year following the Queen’s death and against the backdrop of the Ukraine war.
It also marked the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War.
In Northern Ireland, Irish leader Micheal Martin and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris attended a Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Enniskillen 35 years on from an IRA bomb at the event.
Eleven people died on the day of the attack at the town’s war memorial in 1987, with another victim dying years later having never woken from a coma.
It has become a recent tradition for Ireland’s prime minister to attend the Enniskillen event.
The King was joined at the Cenotaph by other members of the Royal Family, including the Prince of Wales, the Earl of Wessex, and the Princess Royal, who also laid floral tributes.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also honoured the fallen on behalf of the government by leaving a wreath, followed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, other party leaders, senior members of the cabinet, military chiefs of staff and high commissioners.
Also in attendance were seven former prime ministers – Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
Watching from the balcony of a government building was the Queen Consort and the Princess of Wales.
A short service followed the laying of the main wreaths, with Bishop of London Dame Sarah Mullally leading a prayer.
Other ceremonies to commemorate the war dead were held across the UK.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon led tributes in Edinburgh while her government’s veterans’ minister, Keith Brown, travelled to the Falkland Islands to attend a remembrance event.
The former Royal Marine served in the 1982 conflict.
The Queen, who died nine weeks ago at the age of 96, considered the Remembrance Sunday service one of the most significant and important engagements in the royal calendar.
The nation’s longest-reigning monarch lived through the Second World War as a teenager, saw service as a military mechanic and was head of the armed forces.
In an interview with Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme, chief of the defence staff Admiral Radakin said: “I think Remembrance Sunday is always poignant.
“I think it’s poignant for the whole nation, this special moment when we pause to reflect on the sacrifice and commitment of others to provide our freedom today.
“I think there’s a special poignancy this year with both the loss of Her Majesty, another loss of a Second World War veteran.
“I also think it’s poignant when we have once again the spectre of war in Europe and all that that entails, and a country that’s been invaded and is fighting for its freedom.”
Officials said this year’s service is dedicated both to fallen soldiers in wars past and to Ukrainians fighting against Russia’s invasion.
“We must never forget those who gave their lives in defense of our values and our great nation,” said Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. “All of us will also be thinking of those brave Ukrainians who are fighting for their very own survival to defend freedom and democracy for all, just as the U.K. and Commonwealth soldiers did in both world wars.”
