Brits are feeling so tantastic!
She unveils new war memorial
SUNSHINE sent Brits rushing outdoors yesterday as temperatures rose to 17C – making it hotter than Athens.
And after a dreary weekend, spring is on the way next week.
THE Queen unveiled a memorial yesterday for the UK’s soldiers and civilians who served and died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
All senior members of the Royal Family, including William, Kate and Harry, turned out for the service at Horse Guards Parade in London.
The unveiling of the £1million stone monument was followed by a service for 2,500 veterans from the conflicts, starting with the first Gulf War in 1991 when Britain helped to liberate Kuwait from an Iraqi invasion.
More than 800 UK military personnel and civilians died in the three wars.
Gurkha soldier Kailash Gurung, 40, who met Harry when the royal served in Afghanistan as an Army officer, said: “It’s very emotional.
“Some of my very close friends lost their lives, some of my very close friends have been injured for life.”
The Queen received a posy from twoyear-old Alfie Lunn, son of Military Cross winner Sergeant Mark Lunn, 29, and his corporal wife Michelle, 26.
Prince Charles’s wife Camilla chatted to Sgt Johnson Beharry, 37, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for service in Iraq. Also at the ceremony were Prime Minister Theresa May and former premiers David Cameron and Tony Blair. A spokesman for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was forced to deny he asked not to sit next to Mr Blair, who led Britain into the Iraq war. Mrs May, responding to complaints from some war widows they had not been invited, said no-one from the “bereaved community” had been turned away.