Britain unites in silence as King Charles III leads moving Remembrance Sunday ceremony

Nation pauses to remember heroes

Thousands of military personnel, veterans, and members of the public gathered in central London on Sunday under clear blue skies as King Charles III led Britain’s annual ceremony of remembrance honouring the nation’s war dead.

As Big Ben tolled 11 a.m., silence fell across Whitehall for two minutes, punctuated only by a single artillery blast and the haunting notes of “The Last Post” played by Royal Marines buglers.

King Charles, 76, dressed in the uniform of an army field marshal, laid a wreath of red paper poppies on a black background at the base of the Cenotaph war memorial near Parliament. The monument, erected over a century ago to commemorate the British and Allied troops who perished in World War I, now stands as a focal point for annual remembrance of all those who have died in military service since.

The national service takes place every year on the nearest Sunday to 11 November — the day marking the end of World War I in 1918. Similar ceremonies were held across Britain and at UK military bases overseas.

A military band played as Prince William, the heir to the throne, followed his father in placing a wreath on the Portland stone memorial engraved with the words “The Glorious Dead.” Other members of the royal family, including Prince Edward, also took part. Absent, however, was the king’s younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal titles and residence last month over his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, political leaders, and diplomats from Commonwealth nations also laid wreaths in tribute. From a balcony of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Queen Camilla, the Princess of Wales, and other royals looked on.

Many attendees wore red poppies on their lapels, echoing the scarlet flowers that grew on the battlefields of northern France and Belgium during World War I — immortalised in John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields.” The poppy remains an enduring symbol of remembrance across Britain and the Commonwealth.