Queen Elizabeth leads televised remembrance tribute to fallen soldiers

London, November 11

In a televised commemorative show on Saturday evening, UK’s Queen Elizabeth II led tributes to soldiers who died in conflict since the beginning of the First World War.

The commemorative show was held at London’s Royal Albert Hall (RAH), and was organised by the main veterans’ charity association the Royal British Legion (RBL), Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

The annual RBL Festival of Remembrance show in front of the RAH’s 5,000-strong audience and millions of TV viewers featured songs from Welsh stars Tom Jones and Bryn Terfel, who were joined by several choirs, military bands and serving soldiers.

The Festival of Remembrance began in 1927 and is always held on the evening before the official day of remembrance for dead soldiers on Remembrance Sunday.

Remembrance Sunday is the second Sunday in November, the closest Sunday to November 11 which is the day on which the First World War ended in 1918.

This year the Festival and Remembrance Sunday have special significance as they come on the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

Events have been held this week in northern France and in Paris featuring British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron along with US president Donald Trump to mark the anniversary.

Elsewhere on Saturday evening a candlelit vigil was held at the National Arboretum in the English midlands county of Staffordshire, to mark fallen soldiers since 1914.

The National Arboretum is a woodland area which contains 350 memorials to those who served or died in conflicts. — IANS