The Queen’s look of love
PRINCE Charles and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon have led tributes to Britain’s war dead as the entire country remembered their sacrifices in Remembrance Sunday services.
A weekend of events that began with Armistice Day on Saturday were marked yesterday by the traditional wreath laying and observance of a two minutes’ silence at cenotaphs in Edinburgh, London and other cities and towns.
Many people also gathered at the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge, Inverness-shire, to lay tributes.
Ms Sturgeon’s wreath was among 100 laid at the Stone of Remembrance outside the City Chambers in the Scottish capital at a memorial event organised by Legion Scotland, the veterans’ charity.
Anne Blair, of Edinburgh, whose husband Lieutenant Colonel David Blair, the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion The Queen’s Own Highlanders, died in an IRA blast at Warrenpoint,
Northern Ireland, in 1979, was present at the ceremony with her daughter Alexandra
Nevill.
Lt Col Blair was the highest ranking soldier to die in the Troubles and the incident was the army’s worst single peacetime loss since the Second World War.
A total of 17 other soldiers died in the incident, hours after Lord Mountbatten was blown up by the terror group off the Co Sligo coast.
Accompanied by her husband’s regimental colleague Eddie Maley, she laid a wreath on behalf of the War Widows Association.
Ms Nevill placed a poppy
tribute for The Queen’s Own Highlanders. Mrs Blair, said: “It’s such an honour and a privilege to be here today. It’s such a big moment for myself and my daughter.”
Ms Sturgeon added: “Remembrance Sunday is always a poignant occasion.
“It’s an opportunity for all of
us individually and collectively to pay our respects to those who have fought in our armed forces, our veterans, and those who currently serve in our armed forces to keep the whole world safe.”
In Whitehall, The Queen asked Prince Charles to lay her wreath at the Cenotaph, in
what is believed to be the first time the monarch has broken with tradition and not performed the symbolic duty when at the service.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh watched from a Foreign and Commonwealth Office balcony.
Prime Minister Theresa
May, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and other political figures left wreaths along with the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry and other royals.
In Enniskillen, scene of a deadly bomb attack 30 years ago, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar laid a green laurel wreath.