Royal turnout as dignitaries gather in Belgium to commemorate fallen
Royalty, politicians and thousands of relatives of those who fought at the Battle of Passchendaele gathered in Belgium yesterday to mark 100 years since it began.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Prince of Wales, Prime Minister Theresa May and Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon were among those attending events in and around Ypres to commemorate the centenary of a battle which cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth.
A ceremony took place at the Menin Gate in Ypres, which is etched with the names of thousands of missing soldiers.
The dignitaries heard Last Post, which has been played at the gate by a bugler almost every evening since 1928.
Performances and music – included the National Youth Choir of scotland, dame helen Mirren and a specially written extract from War Horse, narrated by Michael Morpurgo – set to a backdrop of light projections on to the historic Cloth Hall. Events will also be held at the Tyne Cot military cemetery today.
Sir Michael said: “These services provide us with the time to reflect on the sacrifice not just of the thousands of British and Commonwealth troops who gave their lives, but of the men on all sides.
“This was a battle which touched communities across Europe and it is a privilege to be here to stand as friends with the representatives of all the countries who took part in the battle – friends who continue to be strong allies.”
The British and Commonwealth attacks were fought near Ypres between July 31 and November 10, 1917, in battlefields that turned to mud and were summed up in poet Siegfried Sassoon’s line “I died in hell, they called it Passchendaele”.
More than half a million troops – 325,000 Allied soldiers and 260,000 Germans – died in the battle, officially known as the Third Battle of Ypres, in West Flanders in northern Belgium in 1917. Among those to fight in the battle was the “Last Tommy” Harry Patch, who died aged 111 in July 2009.