D-Day live: Veteran warns ‘UK on a knife edge’ on 80th anniversary

• The King, Queen and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to attend the UK’s national commemorative event at the British Normandy Memorial, Ver-sur-Mer.

• The Prince of Wales will attend the Canadian commemorative ceremony at the Juno Beach Centre, Courseulles-sur-Mer.
• The Prince of Wales will join more than 25 heads of state and veterans from around the world at the official international ceremony at Omaha Beach, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.
• Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh to attend Royal British Legion’s service of remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum.

• 80-strong boat Flotilla parade in Falmouth. Around 27,000 American troops departed from the Falmouth area to travel to Normandy in 1944 as part of the D-Day landings.

• The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester to attend D-Day 80: Remembering the Normandy Landings at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

An 80-strong boat flotilla, one for each year since the D-Day landings, has been sailing off the coast of Falmouth, where troops departed on D-Day to travel to Normandy.

British paratroopers were made to show their passports after parachuting into France ahead of D-Day commemorations, my colleague Jabed Ahmed reports.

Hundreds of soldiers parachuted into the same rural drop zone which was used on D-Day 80 years ago in Sannerville, Normandy, on Wednesday.

More than 300 troops jumped into the field, including parachutists from Belgium and the US. As they landed, they were met by a makeshift customs desk and asked to produce their travel documents by French immigration officials. Crowds also went to watch the jump and the troops were applauded after landing.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska received a huge round of applause when they arrived at the site of Omaha Beach in Normandy for the international ceremony, marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron greeted all their senior guests, heads of state or their representatives from around the world, and giant screens showed them warmly welcoming the couple.

Here is a picture of Les Budding, a D-Day veteran who warned on Thursday that he fears, “for many, this is the most dangerous time we have lived through”.

The last major commemorative event of the 80th anniversary of D-Day was running at least an hour late, with US president Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden the last to arrive.

He quickly greeted some of the world leaders in the front row of the main stand and shared a few words with William before taking his seat.

The event began with contemporary black-and-white footage shown of D-Day and the following days, with bodies lying on the beaches and the wounded being tended.

A former Royal Marine who served on a landing craft charged with providing covering fire for the first wave of troops who stormed Sword Beach on D-Day has warned that he believes the UK is “living on a knife edge” in the face of a coming war.

Les Budding, who turns 99 in July, told the BBC: “For many, this is the most dangerous time we have lived through. Another war is coming.”

“I am worried about the future,” he added. “I am concerned about what young people will have to face in the coming years. We are no longer the force we were. We are not prepared.”

“We’re living on a knife edge. People are living in cloud cuckoo land,” Mr Budding continued. “Other countries like Russia and North Korea have been building up their armed forces but we have been sitting back hoping they will see sense. But it’s not going to work.”

A D-Day veteran who paid tribute at the UK national commemorative event to a friend who saved his life, said he became a “bit tearful”.

Arthur Oborne, aged 100, recalled being shot in the lung three days after arriving on Gold Beach. His life was saved by his friend Walter Gummerson, who was killed the next day alongside the rest of his unit.

Mr Oborne, from Portishead, Somerset, told the crowd: “I wish I could tell him that I have never taken his sacrifice for granted and will always remember him and our friends. So Gummy, thank you my old friend.”

Afterwards he said: “I had no problems talking but it was a bit emotional, I was a bit upset and teary. I think everyone did well at the service, I was a bit apprehensive at the start but I wanted to speak.”

As world leaders join veterans in Normandy marking the 80th anniversary of the Allied campaign to liberate Europe, the valour of the past meets the virtue of the present – but it is clear that the forces of darkness that engulfed much of the continent in the 1930s are still alive, writes historian Anthony Seldon:

As the commemorative events continue in Normandy, watch French President Macron leading the ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day live: