Millions of people in Britain fell silent on Friday as the nation remembered those who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars and in other conflicts.
On one of the mildest Armistice Days on record, people from all walks of life marked the two minutes’ silence in all corners of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, wrote on Twitter: “Today and forever, we will remember them.”
Sunak—who will represent the government at Sunday’s remembrance ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall—did not join Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer, who laid a wreath outside London’s Euston station.
Veterans and railway workers stood quietly as the chaplain, Stephen Rowe, said: “May we never forget the bravery and sacrifice, in the face of fearsome odds, the young and old who gave all, and the victories they won for our liberty.”
Elsewhere, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester attended the National Memorial Arboretum Armistice Day Service in Staffordshire and there were large services held in Edinburgh, Belfast, and Portsmouth.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, attended a remembrance service in Paris alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.
Britain and France fought two world wars together and were joined by Russia in the first, and by the Soviet Union in the second.
But Cleverly said: “Since 1918 we have marked Armistice Day and paid tribute to the brave men and women who have served to give us peace. Yet as we salute our troops this year, this peace has been shattered by a Russian aggressor.”
He added: “As we honour the war dead of the past, we also remember Ukraine’s fight for freedom today. The UK stands steadfast with our friends and allies in defence of freedom and democracy in Ukraine and I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with an historic ally in Paris today.”
The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Doug Beattie, posted a quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during the Second World War, on Twitter: “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”
The Met Office said there were “exceptionally mild” conditions with temperatures of 15 degrees Celsius in London and 17 degrees in Hull and it was predicted Friday could be the warmest Armistice Day on record.
