Remembrance Sunday: The Queen watches on as Prince Charles leads memorial service for UK's war dead

Robert Jobson12 November 2017

The Prince of Wales has led the nation in honouring the country's war dead on Remembrance Sunday today as the Queen looked on from a balcony 100 metres away.

Her Majesty asked Prince Charles to lay the nation's wreath at the Cenotaph - in what is seen as a watershed moment in the transition of responsibility from the ageing monarch to her heir.

Charles has laid a wreath before on behalf of the Queen, in 1983 when she was out of the country, and when the Queen was in South Africa in 1999 she laid a wreath at the Cenotaph in Durban.

A two-minute silence took place at 11am and wreaths were laid at the foot of the Whitehall memorial by senior royals and political leaders including Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Service: Prince Charles, Prince of Wales laid a wreath on behalf of his mother, the Queen
Getty Images

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh watched the service from a Foreign and Commonwealth Office balcony.

Buckingham Palace announced the change last month, saying the Queen wanted to join her now retired husband at the service.

Service: Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Cornwall, observe from a balcony
PA

Philip, 96, retired from his solo public duties, but on occasion has joined the Queen at her official engagements. An Equerry laid his wreath on his behalf, and then Charles laid his own wreath.

In his RAF marshal's uniform the Prince of Wales performed his sombre duties with aplomb, just a day after representing the Queen on a busy four country Commonwealth tour.

Politicians arrive for remembrance service

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The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal and the Duke of Kent also laid wreaths.

Other political figures laying wreaths included Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Liberal Democrats leader Vince Cable, and Commons Speaker John Bercow.

The Duchess of Cambridge (centre) and the Countess of Wessex (right),observe the annual Remembrance Sunday Service
PA

Joining the Queen in observing the service from Foreign Office balconies were the Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Countess of Wessex, Princess Alexandra, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence.

The firing of a gun marked the end of the silence, and The Last Post was sounded by the Buglers of the Royal Marines before the wreaths were laid.

Cenotaph: Veterans arriving at the service
REUTERS

This year marks the centenaries of women's service in the regular armed forces, the Battle of Passchendaele and the creation of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, as well as the 100th birthday of forces' sweetheart, Dame Vera Lynn.

It also marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein and the creation of the RAF Regiment.

Officers: Armed police patrol the streets at the Remembrance Sunday Cenotaph service in London
REUTERS

Meanwhile Britons around the world held their own Remembrance services, including troops on deployment in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Officers laid wreaths at a military base in the Middle Eastern country as a brass band played to honour those killed in the First and Second world wars, and in conflicts since.

In Hong Kong services also took place at the city's Cenotaph - organised by the Hong Kong and China branches of the Royal British Legion and the Hong Kong Ex-Servicemen's Association.

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