Wearing a striking corsage of three poppies, Kate Middleton joined William and King Charles at the first Festival of Remembrance since the Queen’s death.
The trio were guests of honour at today's annual Royal British Legion service for the Armed Forces.
And in a special tribute to Her Majesty, the ceremony included a montage of moving messages from Forces members.
They included Gulf War RAF navigator John Nicol, shot down, captured, tortured and paraded on Iraqi TV in 1991. He said: “The concept of service was epitomised by our late Queen.”
Sailor Stan Ford, 97, of Bath – torpedoed on D-Day– told how he and his eight brothers all wanted to served the Monarch, and did. He said: “I thank the Queen for her service. She was a lynch pin for all of us.”
In his 20th year hosting the event, the BBC ’s Huw Edwards said: “Service and duty are at the core of military life and no individual symbolised those words more completely than her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”
King Charles, Queen Consort Camilla, William and Kate watched as 21 families who lost loved ones in conflicts made a poignant procession onto the stage.
One of those families included the Bolgers, whose son Stephen was killed in Afghanistan in 2009 at the age of 30.
Stephen’s father Mike, from Cromer in Norfolk, remembers the time before his son went on his second tour of Afghanistan before he was killed: “We were sat in the lounge together and… I said: ‘Just look after yourself.’ And he turned to me and caught my eye and said: ‘Dad, they won’t get me.’ But, of course, they did.”
The service also thanked our military personnel training Ukraine troops in the war with Russia.
The Ukrainian Defence Attaché walked alongside their commander Brigadier Justin Stenhouse, who was carrying the Book of Remembrance.
And the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War was commemorated with music.
Director of Remembrance Philippa Rawlinson said: “Her late Majesty’s deep bond with the military lives on with her family and His Majesty The King.”
