Queen leads Remembrance ceremony
The Queen and other members of the Royal family laid wreaths at the Whitehall memorial.
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Sunday, 11, Nov 2007 07:34
The Queen has led the nation in commemorating the sacrifices made by Britain's war dead at today's Remembrance Sunday ceremony in central London.
The monarch laid the first wreath at the Cenotaph memorial after a two-minute silence was observed at 11:00 GMT and the Last Post was played.
Prince William - an officer with the Blues and Royals - laid a wreath for the first time, while his younger brother Prince Harry, a Blues and Royals cornet, attended a private remembrance service with his regiment.
Princes Charles and Andrew laid wreaths in memory of the nation's war dead, as did prime minister Gordon Brown, Conservative leader David Cameron and acting Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable.
Chris Simpkins, head of the Royal British Legion, reminded attendees at today's service that the ceremony, one of hundreds held in the UK, Iraq and Afghanistan, was to remember not just the fallen from the two world wars but also those currently fighting in the Middle East.
And the chief of the defence staff, Air Chief Marshall Sir Jock Stirrup, sent a message to members of the armed forces.
"For the great many of you who have served or are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, the memories of the price paid will be all too fresh.
"We have lost friends and comrades. Families have lost husbands, wives, sons, daughters, parents."
He added: "We remember those families today; they bear a heavy burden, and the nation owes them a debt that it can never fully repay."
Britain's oldest war veteran, 111-year-old Henry Allingham, is to lay a wreath in northern France later today.