Lee Rigby's widow and son lay wreaths as nation marks Armistice Day

Updated

The widow and young son of murdered soldier Lee Rigby laid wreaths in Woolwich today as the nation fell silent today to mark Armistice Day.

Jack Rigby and his mother Rebecca attended a service at St George's Chapel, where Fusilier Rigby's name has been engraved on a brass plaque, as millions of people remembered those killed in conflicts since the beginning of the First World War.

Schools, offices and churches up and down the country took part in the two-minute silence at 11am, marking the time when Allied Forces declared an end to fighting with Germany 97 years ago.

Veterans and their families joined serving military personnel at the Cenotaph in London's Whitehall, where singer Cerys Matthews read an extract from the Times newspaper from October 1915 about the deaths of 41 only-sons in battle.

The Queen marked the two-minute silence privately at Buckingham Palace with her family while the Princess Royal attended a service at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

Prime Minister David Cameron observed the silence during a flight to Valletta, Malta, where he is attending an international summit, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

Mr Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May later laid wreaths on the flight deck of HMS Bulwark with members of the ship's company.

Fusilier Rigby's name was one of 11 unveiled on a memorial to honour service personnel and civilians.

The 25-year-old soldier was killed outside his barracks in Woolwich, south-east London, in May 2013 by two Islamic extremists.

A handwritten note on a wreath laid by his son Jack read: "To daddy, me and mummy miss and always love you."

British military personnel joined troops from Spain, Portugal and the US for an Armistice Day ceremony at a training site in Iraq.

The Last Post was sounded across the base in Besmaya, on the outskirts of Baghdad, using a tannoy usually reserved for threat alarms and warnings.

More than 120,000 tributes were planted in Fields of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey and at sites across the UK.

In London's Trafalgar Square, the Royal British Legion held its annual Silence in the Square event, where actor Bernard Cribbins gave a reading of Rudyard Kipling's poem Tommy. Second World War veteran Danny McCrudden, 91, sang The Impossible Dream to crowds gathered at the site ahead of the silence.

The world's last remaining Swordfish aeroplane dropped thousands of poppies over the remembrance service at St Bartholomew's Fleet Air Arm Memorial Church in Yeovilton, Somerset.

Nineteen British veterans were presented with the Legion d'honneur, France's highest distinction, for their role in liberating France during the Second World War.

The medals were presented by the French Ambassador Sylvie Bermann in a ceremony at her residence in Kensington.

The Last Post was sounded by a bugler from the band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines at the Imperial War Museum in London. A recital was also played on a violin made from sycamore and pine trees which grew in the former battlefields on the Western Front

Chelsea Pensioners observed the two-minute silence at Lloyd's of London, where a remembrance ceremony was held on its trading floor.

At Holyrood, all parliamentary business was suspended as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, MSPs, staff and visiting veterans joined the Presiding Officer in the building's garden lobby for the Scottish Parliament's commemoration.

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