Elizabeth Leads Ceremonies Honoring British War Dead
Queen Elizabeth II led ceremonies in London on Sunday to honor the 54-nation Commonwealth’s war dead.
The queen, dressed in black, laid a wreath of red poppies at the base of the Cenotaph white stone monument in Whitehall, heart of Britain’s government.
Prince Philip and several other members of the royal family also laid wreaths at the monument on Remembrance Sunday. They were followed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, representatives of Commonwealth nations and leaders of the armed forces and veterans groups.
Several thousand veterans marched in faint autumnal sunshine as others looked on.
Marching for the first time were relatives of 300 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were executed for desertion or mutiny during World War I. It is now believed that many of the executed had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The annual remembrance ceremony commemorates Nov. 11, 1918, the day World War I ended.
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