Armistice Day: Centenary of Unknown Warrior burial to be marked
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall are expected to join figures from government and the armed forces for the service at Westminster Abbey.
Then, at 11:00 GMT, a two-minute silence will be held to commemorate those who died in conflict.
Armistice Day marks the day World War One ended in 1918.
The grave of the Unknown Warrior represents those who died in the war and whose place of death is not known or whose remains are unidentified.
At Westminster Abbey, the service will be led by the Dean of Westminster, Dr David Hoyle, and will include an address from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.
There will also be readings by the Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, and the former Catatonia singer now BBC radio presenter, Cerys Matthews.
Ruby Turner, accompanied by Jools Holland, will sing the hymn Abide with Me, which was sung at the burial 100 years ago.
The service will be broadcast live on BBC One and include the national two-minute silence.
Commemorations will also be held at the Edinburgh Gardens Of Remembrance, Cardiff National War Memorial, Belfast Belfast City Hall and National Arboretum in Staffordshire.
Before the scheduled events, an Extinction Rebellion activist staged a protest at the Cenotaph in central London.
Private Donald Bell, who served four tours in Northern Ireland, placed a banner in front of the war memorial that read 'Honour Their Sacrifice, Climate Change Means War'.
He also laid a wreath of poppies with the slogan 'Act Now' at the site, saying "unchecked climate change means a return to a world at war". Both the banner and the wreath were later removed by police.
Socially-distanced services
The coronavirus pandemic will affect commemorations this year, though Downing Street has confirmed that remembrance services and events can be held as long as there are strict social distancing measures.
Ahead of the commemorations, the Duchess of Cambridge spoke to military families who have lost loved ones, telling them they should be "proud" of their achievements and "the sacrifice and the bravery that they've shown".
The duchess marked Remembrance week by speaking via video call on Monday to three women about how they had been supported by the Royal British Legion.
It comes after the Queen led the nation in marking Remembrance Sunday at a scaled-back service at the Cenotaph in London's Whitehall.
Social distancing measures were in place and the service was closed to the public for the first time.
Days before, the Queen was seen wearing a face mask in public for the first time when she made a private pilgrimage to the grave of the Unknown Warrior.
The concept of the Grave of the Unknown Warrior was inspired by Rev David Railton, who had served as a chaplain on the Western Front during World War One.
After the conflict he wrote to the then-Dean of Westminster, Herbert Ryle, about his proposal which was later supported by King George V and Prime Minister David Lloyd George.
The body was chosen from four unknown British servicemen - exhumed from four battle areas - by Brig Gen Louis Wyatt, commander of British forces in France and Flanders, and transported back to Britain.
On 11 November 1920, the coffin was draped with a union jack and taken on a gun carriage to the Cenotaph, where the Queen's grandfather George V placed a wreath upon it.
The King - and nearly 1,000 widows and mothers of men killed in World War One - were present as the warrior was buried at the Abbey. A handful of earth from France was then dropped by the king onto his coffin during the service.
November 11, 2020 at 11:26PM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54897427
Labels: BBC News
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