Princess remembers Navy heroes killed in the Battle of Jutland
MEMBERS of the Royal Family joined hundreds of Scots yesterday to mark the centenary of the greatest naval battle of the Great War.
The Princess Royal and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, took part in a series of services and commemorations 100 years after the Battle of Jutland.
Fought off the coast of Denmark, it cost the lives of more than 8,500 British and German seamen and altered the course of the war.
The battlecruiser force deployed at Jutland sailed from the Firth of Forth – and events took place on both sides of the water yesterday in Rosyth, Fife, and South Queensferry.
Princess Anne and Sir Tim were joined by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Baroness Annabel Goldie to lay wreaths at Rosyth Parish Church. The ceremony was followed by a service to remember those who took part in the battle.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘This centenary commemoration is an opportunity for us to honour and pay tribute to the many thousands of sailors from both sides who lost their lives during the Battle of Jutland.
‘The sacrifices made by those who fought in this battle, the largest naval encounter of the First World War, and by other seafarers throughout the conflict must never be forgotten.’
A service was held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in South Queensferry, where 40 men killed at Jutland are commemorated or buried. Barbara Dickson sang The Flowers Of The Forest, then the Princess Royal laid a wreath. A Scottish and a German pupil also laid wreaths.
On Tuesday, 100 years since the battle started, members of the Royal Family and the UK Government will join descendants of those who fought for a service at St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney.