Queen to lead nation in silent tribute to war dead

Updated

The Queen will lead the nation as it falls silent to pay its respect to the country's war dead this weekend.

She will be joined by senior members of the royal family when she attends the annual Royal Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall tonight.

And there will be a strong regal presence when the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh attend the Cenotaph for the traditional Remembrance Sunday service.

Members of the leading political parties are expected to be among those present, with speculation ahead of the event over whether new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn - whose anti-war stance is well known - will wear a poppy.

The Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Harry yesterday paid tribute to Britain's fallen soldiers by opening Westminster Abbey's Field of Remembrance.

Both Philip and Harry laid their crosses of remembrance in front of two wooden crosses from the graves of unknown British soldiers from the First and Second World Wars.

The Last Post was played before a two-minute silence. The prince and his grandfather then walked around plots containing more than 100,000 crosses and chatted to veterans and families of those who had lost loved ones.

The first Field of Remembrance was held in the grounds of Westminster Abbey in November 1928. That year only two remembrance tribute crosses were planted. But it began a tradition which took root and has grown over the decades.

Parliamentary authorities have announced a film of falling poppies will be projected onto the Palace of Westminster's Elizabeth Tower throughout the evening of Remembrance Sunday.

It is the second year that the tower - best known for its clock and Big Ben bell - has been used in this way to commemorate those who perished in the First World War. Projected alongside the flowers will be the names of battles in which British and Commonwealth soldiers fought and died in 1915.

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