King Charles III leads Remembrance Sunday to honor veterans

LONDON (AP) — The United Kingdom remained silent for two minutes on Remembrance Sunday as King Charles III led the nation in honoring servicemen and women who lost their lives in past conflicts.

Big Ben rang 11 times to mark the beginning of the silence as thousands of veterans, including some who had served in World War II, looked solemnly under gray London skies.

Their numbers are dwindling every year – adding excitement to Charles’ appearance, leading the ceremony for the first time since the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II in September. She had served as a mechanic and lorry driver during the final months of World War II and continued to join the annual commemoration in London well into her 90s.

The veterans, with brightly polished shoes and shiny medals on their lapels, watched Charles lay a newly designed poppy wreath at the foot of the Cenotaph, London’s war memorial. Other members of the royal family, including the Prince of Wales and the Earl of Wessex, as well as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Leader of the Opposition also laid wreaths.

Thousands of people filled the streets of London to watch the event and join in the silence, although they cheered when 10,000 veterans marched later.

Remembrance Sunday is marked each year in the UK on the Sunday closest to Armistice Day on 11 November with the wearing of poppies and a two-minute national silence observed at 11am. It marks the moment when the guns fell silent in 1918 at the end of the First World War.

Officials said this year’s service was dedicated both to fallen soldiers in past wars and to Ukrainians fighting the Russian invasion.

“We must never forget those who gave their lives to defend our values ​​and our great nation,” Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said. « We will all also think of those brave Ukrainians who are fighting for their own survival to defend freedom and democracy for all, just as British and Commonwealth soldiers did in both world wars. »

The Associated Press