Princess of Wales makes solo appearance to lay wreath for Anzac Day
The Princess of Wales honored Commonwealth soldiers as she laid a wreath at the Cenotaph in London to mark Anzac Day.
Hundreds of people watched the magnificent ceremony commemorating the landing of Australian and New Zealand troops in Gallipoli in 1915 during the First World War.
During the event, a woman in a New Zealand military uniform presented the princess with a wreath; The wreath was laid at the base of the national war memorial in Whitehall to celebrate the landing of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps troops – shortened to Anzac – on the west coast of the Gallipoli peninsula on 25 April 1915, as part of the unsuccessful campaign that lasted until 1916.
The poppy ring, with white flowers on it, had a note signed by Catherine and William: “In memory of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.”
New Zealand and Australia’s high commissioners, Hamish Cooper and Jay Weatherill, then walked together to lay wreaths.
The Reverend Dr Lyndon Drake quoted from British poet Laurence Binyon’s The Fallen: “They will not grow old like those of us left behind; age will not weary them, nor will the years condemn them. We will remember them when the sun goes down and the morning comes.”
The Royal Marines Portsmouth Road Band trumpeter played the final post and a minute’s silence followed.
Kate joined attendees in singing the hymn, O God, Our Help in Ages Past, before men and women in military uniform left Whitehall.
The Princess will attend a service of remembrance and thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey later on Saturday.
Part of the British-led effort to defeat the Ottoman Empire, the Gallipoli campaign aimed to secure a sea route from the Mediterranean to Constantinople, now Istanbul, in Türkiye, via the Dardanelles. More than 100,000 soldiers died.
Earlier on Saturday, the Princess Royal attended a dawn ceremony at Wellington Arch in London’s Hyde Park Corner.
Arranged by the New Zealand and Australian high commissions, Anne arrived shortly before the Anzac service began at 5am.
He laid a wreath on the Wellington Arch during the ceremony, which read John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields, and ended with the national anthems of the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.
Services were also held in New Zealand, Australia and Türkiye’s Gallipoli peninsula on Saturday morning.
The same day was also celebrated in the village of Villers-Bretonneux in the Somme region of France, which Australian troops helped defend during the First World War.
A post on the Royal Family
