D-Day veterans have been left in tears as the memories of decades past came flooding back while they were honoured for their service by world leaders and royals.
Soldiers who took part in the Normandy landings 80 years ago wept as they remembered their fallen comrades and were given standing ovations by the grateful younger generations at a series of touching commemorative events in northern France.
At the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, tribute was paid to the ‘remarkable wartime generation’, before wreaths of poppies were laid in memory of the more than 25,000 soldiers who lost their lives in the first stages of the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.
The number of veterans in attendance was only a few dozen, as the numbers of survivors dwindles with each year that passes – at the 75th anniversary five years ago 255 travelled to France, compared to the 50 who have made the journey this time around.
King Charles and Queen Camilla led those present, which also included Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron, in a poignant silent prayer to remember those no longer with us, while memories of those who were on the beaches 80 years ago were also read out.
There were also moments of levity, with Queen Camilla being given a white rose by one veteran in a touching mark of respect, with Her Majesty seen clutching the tender gift as she spoke with the former soldiers.
Elsewhere Prince William was pictured attending at Juno Beach, where hundreds of Canadian troops lost their lives, along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ahead of an international gathering later in the day which is set to include US president Joe Biden.Â
There were tears among the crowd, including from veterans, during the emotional service at Ver-sur-Mer in northern France this morning
Many veterans were left emotional at the service after receiving a standing ovation from the crowd in their honour
A veteran lays a wreath of poppies dedicated to those who died in the Second World War during a ceremony at the British Normandy Memorial
A British veteran clasps the hand of fellow attendee at the memorial service which saw tributes paid to the survivors and those who lost their lives in D-Day
Veteran Ken Hay is supported as he speaks during the commemorative service at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer
A veteran sniffs a white rose given to him by French schoolchildren on the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings in Ver-sur-Mer
A veteran is escorted at the end of the ceremony at the British Normandy Memorial, which saw many in tears thinking about their fallen comrades
The service, which took place in front of 2,000 people including world leaders and royalty, saw tributes paid to D-Day veterans. Pictured is Arthur Oborne being escorted to the memorial
D-Day veteran Alex Penstone, 98, stands supported by Akshata Murty, the wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the service in Ver-sur-Mer
The veterans were given white roses by French schoolchildren as a mark of respect for their service in liberating the country from the Nazis
King Charles III speaks to a D-Day veteran during a lunch following the UK Ministry of Defence and the Royal British Legion’s commemorative event
King Charles III speaks to a D-Day veteran during a lunch following the UK Ministry of Defence and the Royal British Legion’s commemorative event
Akshata Murty, the wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks with D-Day veteran Christian Lamb, who was presented earlier with the Legion d’Honneur
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wheels D-Day veteran Bernard Morgan, 100, from Crewe, as they head to lunch
Those who took part in the Normandy landings 80 years ago were invited back to the beaches of northern France as a sign of respect
Veterans look on during the commemorative event at the British Normandy Memorial service in northern France this morning
British D-Day veterans hold white roses given to them by French schoolchildren at a memorial service in Ver-sur-Mer today
Queen Camilla is given a white rose by a D-Day veteran as she speaks with them at the British Normandy Memorial this morning
Royal Navy veteran Ken Benbow, 98, waves as he leaves the heartfelt service at the British Normandy Memorial, which saw tributes paid to the fallen
French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with Christian Lamb, 104, who helped plan the D-Day landings. She has been given the Legion of Honour, the highest order of merit in France by Mr Macron
D-Day veterans gather at the British Normandy Memorial this morning on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings
British veterans stand and sit for the moments silence at the commemorative D-Day event in northern France this morning
Veteran Arthur Oborne speaks while supported by a military officer at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer today
King Charles shakes the hand of a veteran as they speak following the service at the British Normandy Memorial today
Queen Camilla speaks to Royal Navy D-Day veteran Albert Keir, 98, from Derbyshire, during the service in Ver-sur-Mer
Queen Camilla speaks with D-Day veteran Henry Rice, 98 from Surrey, at the end of the commemorative event at the British Normandy Memorial
King Charles III lays a wreath of poppies at the British Normandy Memorial during an emotional service to D-Day veterans
King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive at the British Normandy Memorial for the 80th anniversary of D-Day in northern France
The King looked emotional as he listened to singer Johnny Flynn perform Song with no Name in tribute to the fallen this morning
His Majesty King Charles III gives a salute as he lays a wreath of poppies at the British Normandy Memorial this morning
King Charles and Queen Camilla speak to D-Day veterans after leading 2,000 people in a minutes silence for the those who were lost on the beaches of Normandy
The Red Arrows and a typhoon aircraft fly over the memorial service as the RAF pays tribute to the veterans of the Normandy landings
King Charles gives a speech honouring those who took part in the D-Day landings at a memorial service in Ver-sur-Mer today
British veterans gathered at the British Normandy Memorial where there was a commemorative event for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings
The veterans in attendance were given a rapturous round of applause by crowds at Ver-sur-Mer in northern France this morning
At Ver-sur-Mer, Charles led 2,000 dignitaries, military personnel and veterans in paying tribute to those who stormed the beaches.Â
Charles, along with President Macron, Mr Sunak and military leaders laid wreathes of poppies at the memorial as Elgar’s Nimrod was performed by a brass band in the background, with the national anthems of France and the United Kingdom also being played as the Red Arrows roared overhead.
They were also presented with white roses by French schoolchildren while cadets waved flags, and received multiple standing ovations during the two-hour-long service, before shaking hands and exchanging words with His Majesty.
The monarch looked emotional as he listened to singer Johnny Flynn perform ‘Song with no Name’ in tribute to the fallen, while Camilla was seen wiping her eyes as actor Martin Freeman read a touching diary entry from one survivor who remarked ‘it’s because of the lads [who died] that I’m here today’.Â
Mr Sunak gave a touching speech at the event saying that ‘only by remembering’ can we ensure their sacrifice is never forgotten. As military planes flew overhead, Mr Sunak led the audience in giving the veterans in attendance a standing ovation.
At the same time, an RAF band performed a marching display while Dakota military transport aircraft, widely used by the Allies during the Second World War, flew overhead. There was also an emotive performance by Tom Jones of his song ‘I Won’t Crumble With You If You Fall’
In his speech, Charles said:Â ‘Eighty years ago on D-Day, the 6th of June 1944, our nation – and those which stood alongside it – faced what my grandfather, King George VI, described as the supreme test.
‘How fortunate we were, and the entire free world, that a generation of men and women in the United Kingdom and other allied nations did not flinch when the moment came to face that test.
‘On the beaches of Normandy, on the seas beyond and in the skies overhead, our armed forces carried out their duty with a humbling sense of resolve and determination – qualities so characteristic of that remarkable war-time generation.
‘Very many of them never came home, they lost their lives on the D-Day landing grounds or in the many battles that followed.
‘It is with the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them and all those who served at that critical time.
‘We recall the lesson that comes to us again and again across the decades – free nations must stand together to oppose tyranny.’
Prince William cut a sombre figure as he arrived at a service at Juno Beach, where hundreds of Canadian troops lost their lives
The Prince of Wales paid tribute to Canadian troops who laid down their lives to ensure the defeat of fascism in the Second World War
King Charles shares a joke with French President Emmanuel Macron at the often-emotional service in Normandy this morning
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gives a speech at the British Normandy Memorial paying tribute to the veterans of D-DayÂ
Prince William was pictured with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a memorial service at Canadian cemetery at Juno Beach
Speaking in French as well as English, he also paid his respects to the people of France, who suffered under Nazi rule during the Second World War and who fought for freedom through La Résistance.
Elswhere in Normandy, Prince William paid tribute to Canadian troops who laid down their lives to ensure ‘fascism was conquered’.
Addressing Canadian veterans on Juno Beach, the Prince of Wales thanked them for their ‘extraordinary acts of bravery and sacrifice’.
‘All of you demonstrated heroism, and determination, that ensured fascism was conquered,’ he said.
‘The commitment to service displayed by Canadian troops is a great testament to the strength of the people of Canada.’
Canadian troops were tasked with storming Juno beach, one of five attacked by Allied forces.
The prince continued: ‘Ensuring the memory of those who fought for freedom lives on is why we’ve come together again today – to say thank you.’
Ending his speech, he repeated his appreciation in French: ‘Merci pour notre liberte, et merci pour votre service.’
After the Canadian ceremony on Juno Beach, which included the playing of the Last Post and the observance of a minute’s silence, alongside performances from Canadian musicians, William and the politicians briefly chatted to some of the veterans.
The prince asked one old servicemen ‘memories bringing it all back?’ and with the area now a picturesque stretch of sand with beach homes beyond the dunes, he added ‘there’s been a lot of changes.’
William moved on to talk to another Canadian veteran, and when the conversation turned toward the ages of the men who fought on D-Day the future king said ‘a lot of people were lying about their ages’.
Before the Prince of Wales and the prime ministers of France and Canada left floral tributes on Juno Beach, a lone piper played a lament in the dunes as the waves crashed on the sands.
On D-Day, 359 Canadian soldiers were killed, while more than 5,000 troops from the Commonwealth country died over the course of the 11-week Battle of Normandy.
William’s wreath had the handwritten note: ‘Remembering all Canadian acts of bravery and sacrifice 80 years ago.
‘Lest we forget. N’oublions jamais.’
Military personnel stand in front of a giant poppy with the words ‘lest we forget’ and a Union Jack on Gold Beach as they pay their respects this morning
Military aircraft fly over the beach at Arromanches in Normandy today as they travel over the northern coast of France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day
A house near Gold Beach in Arromanches is decked with the national flags of the UK, USA, Canada and France as the world pays its respects to those lost on D-Day
Earlier in the day a lone military piper played on Gold Beach to mark the moment the first British troops stormed the Normandy coast on D-Day 80 years ago today.
Pipe Major Trevor Macey-Lillie played Highland Laddie as he was carried to the beach at Arromanches on a Royal Marines amphibious landing craft flanked by service members at the exact moment the first troops waded ashore as part of the Normandy landings.
Crowds gathered at the beach to view the reenactment, which harkened back to a lone piper who played during the landings itself and was never shot at, during a picturesque sunrise – a far cry from the cloudy and rough seas that welcomed 25,000 soldiers who landed on the same stretch of coast in 1944.
Among those present at Arromanches this morning was Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who joined others in paying tribute to those who lost their lives during what was the biggest seaborne invasion in military history.
There have also been events remember the British troops on Sword Beach in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Canadian soldiers on Juno Beach at Courseulles and US forces at Utah Beach in Pouppeville and Omaha Beach in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.
Pipe Major Macey-Lillie, who also performed his role as the lone piper on gold Beach during the 75th anniversary, said it was a ‘privileged, humbling experience’ to take part.Â
‘We are here to represent and remember the veterans who are still here today and for the young soldiers of all Allied forces who didn’t make it home,’ he told the BBC.
‘It was freezing cold out there this morning and last night. I was on the landing craft out behind the harbour looking up at the stars and thinking to myself about exactly what the young soldiers had thought prior to them coming onto the beaches.’
He performed to crowds of reenactors who gather in their wartime vehicles, and visitors, had previously filled the area as the sun rose, with some writing in the sand and others cupping hot drinks as they looked out to sea.Â
After the piper’s lament the piper’s lament, a French church service was held and military planes flew overhead.Â
Following the poignant remembrance on the beach, there will be commemorations in the French town including a veterans parade, as well as an air and firework display.
There have also been reenactments on other beaches which were targeted during D-Day, with a fellow British congregation gathering on Sword Beach to pay respects to those who lost their lives on June 6, 1944.
There are also events at Juno Beach, Utah Beach and Omaha Beach where heroic Canadian and US troops played their part in the Normandy landings.
In recent days veterans of the conflict, who are dwindling in number as the years pass, have travelled to France to take part in events commemorating the fallen.
At the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings the Royal British Legion (RBL) took 255 veterans back to Normandy on a chartered ship, while this year only 23 will make the trip with the charity.
A total of 50 British D-Day veterans are expected to be at events in Normandy today, and there have been emotional scenes as those who are well enough to make the journey have gathered in northern France.
Charles and Camilla, along with senior politicians, will be present at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, which pays tribute to 22,442 service personnel under British command who died on D-day and during the Battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944.
Reenactors stand alongside an amphibious vehicle on the sands of Gold Beach ahead of the D-Day anniversary commemorations
Royal Marines of 47 Commando and civilians at Asnelles move in the water in kayaks off the coast of northern France this morning
A pair of reenactors treat themselves to a drink ahead of a busy day of D-Day commemorations on Gold Beach, Arromanches, this morning
Military piper Major Trevor Macey-Lillie plays a lament as he is driven ashore on Gold Beach in an amphibious vehicle this morning
A giant poppy is displayed on the beach at Arromanches as people walk along the sand before today’s commemorations
People gather together as the sun rises over Gold Beach this morning on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings
Military reenactors travel along the beach at Arromanches in an amphibious landing craft as the sun rises this morning
A military reenactor looks out to sea as the sun rises on Gold Beach this morning ahead of a day of events to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day
Veteran Jack Mortimer becomes emotional while travelling to France from Britain on Tuesday, June 4, ahead of D-Day commemorations
A military reenactor kneels in the sand as they pay tribute to those who lost their lives on Gold Beach during the Normandy landings
A group of people stand looking out to sea as the sun rises over Arromanche 80 years to the day that thousands of British men stormed Gold Beach and the battle to retake Europe from the Nazis began
The military piper was driven ashore in an amphibious vehicle after being ferried to the beach in northern France on a landing craft
A man rides a Second World War era motorcycle across Gold Beach in Arromanche this morning
Three memorial crosses are laid in the sand, alongside a lone poppy, next to Mulberry harbour on Gold Beach this morning
An amphibious vehicle carries Pipe Major Trevor Macey-Lillie of the Scots Royal Artillery onto Gold Beach in the morning light
A pipe band plays at Utah Beach near Saint-Martin-de-Vareville, where US forces landed on D-Day
A reenactor holds a lantern during a ceremony at Utah Beach to commemorate US soldiers who died while storming the coast
A soldier parachutes down to Utah Beach with a red flare billowing smoke behind him in remembrance to US soldiers
The sun rises over the headstones at the Normandy American Cemetery above Omaha Beach on the 80th anniversary of D-Day
It will be the first major anniversary at the site, which opened in 2021, with Charles and Camilla officially opening the Winston Churchill Centre for Education and Learning following the commemorations today.
Meanwhile, Prince William will attend the Canadian commemorative event at the Juno Beach Centre, Courseulles-sur-Mer, before joining more than 25 heads of state and veterans for the official international ceremony on Omaha Beach, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.
An 80-strong flotilla of boats is set to cross the English Channel from Falmouth in Cornwall, where thousands of troops departed to take part in the invasion, while there will also be a beacon-lighting ceremony in Aylesford, Kent.Â
At midnight this morning there was a ceremony at the Bayeux War Cemetery, with the gravestones of soldiers who perished during the Normandy landings being illuminated.
Later today the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will join veterans at a Royal British Legion remembrance service at The National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will meet veterans at a show at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
The event, D-day 80: Remembering The Normandy Landings, will be hosted by Davina McCall and feature music from the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, as well as Lulu, Katherine Jenkins, Emeli Sande and D-day Darlings lead vocalist Katie Ashby.
The weather is expected to be ‘generally dry’ during the commemorations, the Met Office said.
Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said: ‘It’ll be pretty dry on either side of the channel.
‘It shouldn’t hamper any commemorations during the day.
‘It’ll be better weather compared to what they had then [in 1944]. Less windy and probably a bit brighter.’
Veteran Donald Jones reacts as he returns to Sword Beach in Normandy where he landed on D-Day as part of the British Armed Forces on Tuesday, June 4
Ronald Hendrey salutes as he visits the headstone of a former comrade in arms at the Bayeux War Cemetery on Wednesday, June 5
Pipe Major Trevor Macey-Lillie plays the bagpipes as he is brought ashore at Gold Beach in an amphibious vehicle this morning
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage stands with reenactors on Gold Beach this morning as people pay their respects to those who died during the D-Day landings
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, pictured here sat in a military vehicle, was among those present at Gold Beach in Arromanche this morning
British soldiers stand guard near illuminated gravestones at the Bayeux War Cemetery in northern France during a ceremony at midnight
A British soldier photographs graves at the Bayeux War Cemetery in the early hours of this morning on the 80th anniversary of D-Day
The grave of an unidentified soldier is illuminated alongside others at the Bayeux War Cemetery in northern France this morning
Lord Peter Ricketts, the former UK ambassador to France and now honorary president of the Normandy Memorial Trust, says it’s important to remember that today is a ‘commemoration, certainly not celebration’.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Vladimir Putin’s illegal war against Ukraine, which has seen him dis-invited to this year’s commemorations, mean the events have taken on a new significance.
‘What Russia has done since then makes it impossible for a senior Russian representatives to be here,’ he said.
‘When we were allied, when we were successful. It’s vital we pass that message on to the younger people.’
Nigel Steel, senior curator at the Imperial War Museum, said it is important to ‘make the most’ of having D-Day veterans as their numbers dwindle.
He told MailOnline: ‘The presence of a veterans is special for us and I think we do need to make the most of that because we know that it’s only a matter of time [before they’re no longer there].
‘When the veterans are there it’s great because we can listen to them and we’re kind of enamored by the veterans as much as the event.
‘But without the veterans, as we are now doing with the First World War, we can still talk about it and remember it and appreciate the significance and remember the veterans as part of that historical memory.
‘They [veterans] are so fascinating to us because they were actually there and in their heads are the real memories and all we can do is talk to them and pick this up second hand.Â
‘I think that’s the great thing about talking to veterans is that you feel your as close to the events as you can ever possibly be.Â
‘You’ve kind of got a direct line back to those events because they were actually there and they were there witnessing and taking part in them.
‘So that’s why we need to make the most of it while they’re still here but whilst we’re talking to them we need to store up those memories so that we can then share them with the next generations who don’t have the privilege of meeting them in person.’