Queen leads scaled-back remembrance
The Queen yesterday led the nation in marking Remembrance Sunday as people around the UK privately paid their respects at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She was joined by fa mily members and the Prime Minister in commemorating the nation ' s war dead at the scaled-back service at the Cenotaph in London.
The Prince of Wales, Duke of Cambridge, Princess Royal and Earl of W essex laid wreaths at the ceremony, which was held outdoors with guests required to observe social distancing.
The public were unable to attend this year, with the event taking place during a national lockdown in England, and were instead encouraged to take part in the two-minute silence at 11am at home.
In other years, White hall is usually packed with thousands of veterans and military, but yesterday fewer than 30 veterans were in attendance.
The Queen, dressed in a black hat and coat, looked on from a balcony at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office building with lady-in-waiting Susan Rhodes, as Prince Charles laid a wreath on her behalf.
The Duchess of Cambridge and Du chess of Cornwall watched from a separate balcony, while the Countess of W essex and Vice-Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Princess Anne’ s husband, were on a third balcony.
The Duke of York did not take part, having stepped down from official royal duties following fierce criticism after his Panorama interview about his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Boris Johnson was joined by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and ex-prime ministers Sir John Major, Tony Blair, David Cameron and Theresa May.
The Duke of Sussex, who stepped down as a working member of the Royal Family and now lives in Califor - nia, spoke about what serving his country means to him. In a podcast to mark Remembrance Sunday, Prince Harry, who spent ten years in the armed forces, said :“Being able to we army uniform, being able to stand up in service of one’s country, these are amongst the greatest honours there are in life.”
In Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon laid a wreath
at the Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle.
At a restricted service, Ms Sturgeon delivered a reading honouring the memory of soldiers who died in conflict, while paying tribute to veterans and current service men and women.
She joined the city’ s Lord Provost Frank Ross and senior representatives of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force to lay poppy wreaths on behalf of the Queen and the people of Scotland.
A dawn tribute to mark the
75 th anniversary of the end of the Second World War also took place on the castle’s ramparts, where the names of every military unit which suffered losses during the war were read out.
Legion Scotland and Poppyscotl and a recalling on the public to mark the twominute silence on Ar mist ice Day on Wednesday at home. They will also stream a virtual service of remembrance online from 10.45 am.