With a military parade and an appearance of the royal family on the balcony, the Windsor kicked off the official commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second world War, this Monday, May 5 in London.
This Monday, May 5, marked the start of four days of British commemorations to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Faced with Victoria Memorial, the Windsor took place on a specially erected platform in front of the Buckingham Palace. Which has seen Charles III and Queen Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton arrive, who came accompanied by their three children (George, 11, Charlotte, 10, and Louis, 7 years old), Princess Anne and her husband the vice-admiral Tim Laurence, as well as Prince Edward and his wife the Duchess Sophie d’Edburg. The royal family was quickly joined by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the mayor of London Sadiq Khan, as well as many veterans and their families.
The celebrations, planned to last four days, then started with the reading of extracts from a speech by Prime Minister Winston Churchill on May 8, 1945. Just before a military fanfare parade which brought together more than a thousand members of the British armed forces. During the parade, the young Prince Louis – as usual – did not fail to stand out. We first saw him dusk the shoulder of his father’s uniform, then imitated his brother George who put his wick in place after a gust.
Manteau Emilia Wickstead
On the occasion of these commemorations, the men of the royal family but also Princess Anne wore the military uniform. The king, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, put on the habit of ceremony of the royal navy, similar to that carried by his grandfather, George VI, during the victory in 1945.
For her part, the Princess of Wales had opted for a plum set composed of a coat Emilia Wickstead and a Sean Barrett hat, held that she had already carried in November 2022 during the reception of the South African president Cyril Ramaphosa. Princess Charlotte was dressed in a dark green coat, while her brothers George and Louis wore “tie” sets.
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From the world to the balcony
A little later in the day, King Charles III, cared for for fifteen months for cancer, then came to greet the crowd from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. From there, the royal family admired the overflight of military planes, completed by the acrobatic patrol of the Red Arrows leaving a tricolor trace in the sky. The Windsor had, a few minutes earlier, received around twenty veterans, for many centenary, for a “tea party».
On May 8, 1945, it was from the same balcony of Buckingham Palace that King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, supervising Winston Churchill, had praised with their daughters Elizabeth and Margaret, the tens of thousands of Londoners celebrating what Churchill had called the “Day of Victory in Europe” (Victory in Europe Day, Ve Day). In the evening, the two princesses of 19 and 14 had been allowed to get out of the palace to join incognito at the jubilant crowd, during a night that Elizabeth became Reine will describe, forty years later, as “one of the most memorable nights of my life”.
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Festivities until Thursday
This Tuesday, Queen Camilla will admire in the London Tower an installation of some 30,000 ceramic poppies, symbols of the victims of the wars, and many buildings of which the Westminster Palace will be illuminated in the evening. The celebrations will end Thursday with a national minute of silence at 11 am (from London), and an action service thanks to the Westminster abbey in the presence of the royal family, before a concert planned on the main square of Horse Guards Parade in London. The pubs were allowed to close two hours later as part of these celebrations.
