Yahoo – AFP,
12 November 2017
Britain's Prince Charles laid a wreath during the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph in central London |
Queen
Elizabeth II took a significant step back from official duties on Sunday,
leaving heir to the throne Prince Charles to lay a tribute to Britain's war
dead on her behalf.
The queen
traditionally lays a wreath at the Cenotaph national war memorial in London,
but for the first time she observed the annual Remembrance Sunday service from
a balcony.
Her eldest
son Charles instead stepped forward following a nationwide two-minute silence,
placing a wreath of poppies at the monument close to parliament.
Other
members of the royal family, including princes William and Harry, also took
part in the ceremony along with senior politicians and veterans.
Prime
Minister Theresa May and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn also placed wreaths at
the Cenotaph, while the ceremony was attended by former premiers including Tony
Blair.
The queen
has missed the ceremony only six times in her 65-year reign and handing over
her role to Charles is a visible sign to her subjects that she is reducing her
official duties.
Buckingham
Palace announced in advance that the 91-year-old monarch would view the service
from a Foreign Office balcony, alongside her husband Prince Philip, 96, who
retired from public duties in August.
Queen
Elizabeth has already reduced her schedule, with official engagements dropping
22 percent from the 425 in her 2012 diamond jubilee year to 332 in 2016.
Remembrance
Sunday is the Sunday nearest to Armistice Day on November 11, the anniversary
of the 1918 signing of the peace treaty that ended fighting in World War I.
More than
one million people from the then British empire died in the four-year conflict,
but the day has become a time to remember all the troops killed in wars since
then.
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