This morning (Monday 11 November 2024), Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh GCVO attended the Armistice Day Service of Remembrance on the Armed Forces Memorial as we reflected not only on the end of the First World War, but also on the many anniversaries that remind us of the bravery and resilience demonstrated by our Armed Forces across generations.
This service included an Act of Remembrance, incorporating a two-minute silence observed across the Arboretum at 11am. At the conclusion of the Act of Remembrance, HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh laid her wreath on the central plinth of the Armed Forces Memorial.
Further tributes were laid by other service participants, including Mr Ian Dudson CBE KStJ, His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire; Mrs Julia Mitchell, High Sheriff of Staffordshire; The Rt Hon Maria Eagle MP, Dave Robertson MP, and senior representatives from the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force.
Group Captain Anny Reid OBE ARRC (Rtd), Chair of the National Memorial Arboretum, laid a wreath on behalf of the Arboretum and Philippa Rawlinson, Director of Remembrance for RBL, laid a wreath on behalf of the Royal British Legion.
In addition to musical performances from British Army Band Catterick, Black Voices and Carly Paoli, a reading of ‘A Poppy To Remember’ was delivered by the Arboretum’s poet-in-residence Dan Simpson and participants from the Arboretum’s ‘Talent in the Ranks’ artist development programme for aspiring artists from the Armed Forces community.
Towards the end of the service, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh read an extract from ‘For The Fallen’, a poem by Lawrence Binyon (1869 - 1943).
