The King and Queen will join Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in paying tribute to fallen soldiers at the UK’s national memorial service at the Normandy British Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer.
Thursday, June 6, 2024 03:25 UK
Royalty and world leaders will gather with veterans in Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
The King and Queen will pay tribute to fallen soldiers at a British national memorial service at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are also due to attend.
Opened in 2021, it pays tribute to the Normandy landings in the summer of 1944 and the 22,442 servicemen and women who died serving under British command during the fighting.
This will be the first major commemorative event to be held at the museum, and Prince Charles and Camilla are due to officially open the Winston Churchill Education and Learning Centre after the event.
Meanwhile, Prince William will attend Canada’s commemoration events at the Juno Beach Centre in Coursur-Mer, before taking part in the official international ceremony at Omaha Beach with more than 25 heads of state and veterans.
The day begins early in the morning with a bagpiper playing on the beach at Arromanches to mark the start of the largest naval invasion in military history.
The ceremony, led by the Commonwealth Military Graves Commission, will be held at Bayeux War Cemetery, the largest of the Commonwealth World War II military cemeteries in France.
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In Britain, a convoy of 80 ships is due to depart from Falmouth, Cornwall, from where thousands of soldiers set out to take part in the invasion.
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will attend a British Legion remembrance service with veterans at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, while the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will meet veterans at a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
General election campaigning will be largely halted for a second day as the Prime Minister, the Labour leader and other politicians take part in the commemorations.
Also due to attend Normandy are US President Joe Biden, who is on an official visit to France, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
read more:
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On Wednesday, Prince Charles spoke to veterans and delivered a reading at a commemoration event for the Normandy landings in Portsmouth.
He told one veteran who asked how his wife was doing that Kate would have been “happy” to attend the 80th anniversary event.
Addressing the crowd, the king also paid tribute to the “courage, resilience and unity” of those involved in the historic invasion of Normandy, a pivotal moment in defeating the Nazis.
At some point, The queen shed tears Eric Bateman, a veteran of the Royal Navy, recalled the horror of that day.
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After the ceremony in Portsmouth, the memorial moved to the beaches of Normandy, where hundreds of Allied defenders parachuted into the historic D-Day landing site to mark the airborne invasion 80 years ago.
Princess Anne unveiled a statue of riflemen storming the beach and praised the “loyalty, courage and duty” of the Canadian military.
Late Wednesday evening, the annual Normandy Landings Thanksgiving Service was held at Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy, followed by a candlelight vigil at Bayeux War Cemetery and a champagne toast on Pegasus Bridge shortly before 11 p.m., continuing a tradition that has been held since 1944, and fireworks were set off overhead.