After 65 years as the focal point of a nation’s thoughts, it must have felt a little strange to be a spectator.
But at least the Queen was finally able to take in the full, humbling spectacle of Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph yesterday as she watched proceedings from a Whitehall balcony.
The Monarch had entrusted her wreath to the Prince of Wales for the most sacred date in the royal calendar. At one point a tear could be seen in her eye, though royal observers put this down to a harsh Arctic breeze ushering in a cold snap rather than a public display of emotion.
It was a powerful moment, nonetheless. Flanked by the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Cornwall behind her Foreign Office balustrade, the Queen could survey the one occasion of the year when all the Royal Family, all the party leaders, all former prime ministers and representatives of every Commonwealth nation gather in the heart of the capital.
On the six previous occasions when the Queen had been absent from the parade, she was either on an overseas tour or expecting a baby. Never before had she been an onlooker at the 11am ceremony. It will not have been a decision taken lightly.
The Duke of Edinburgh leans against the wall as he joins The Queen Elizabeth on a Whitehall balcony at Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph, London
Her Majesty’s wreath was laid on her behalf by The Prince of Wales. The Monarch had entrusted her wreath to the Prince of Wales for the most sacred date in the royal calendar
Prince Charles stands in front of the Prime Minister, leader of the opposition and former leaders at the Cenotaph
Officially, she took it in order to be alongside the Duke of Edinburgh, following his retirement from public duties earlier this year. Unofficially, it defied common sense to expect a head of state in her 92nd year to walk down the Cenotaph step backwards on live television, as this ceremony has always required.
But if the Queen was not in her usual place, she was very much in evidence and taking a keen interest in everything.
Being on a balcony meant she was actually more visible than before to the vast crowds, ten deep in places. So was her splendid spray of poppies, held in place by Queen Mary’s gleaming Dorset bow brooch.
Prince Philip, who was wearing his uniform as Lord High Admiral, had none of his many medals on display. All were covered by his thick Royal Navy coat.
For the Prince of Wales, who has been quietly taking on a number of the Queen’s engagements at her behest, this was the most kingly – and perhaps the most poignant –role he has performed to date.
Yet while we may be witnessing a gradual transfer of duties, it is not a transfer of powers. The Queen remains very much in constitutional charge.
The Prince of Wales took over the role from the Queen as he has stepped up his royal duties in recent years
Charles, pictured with princes William and Harry, made a small piece of Cenotaph history yesterday when he became the first person to lay two wreaths in a single Remembrance Sunday service
But if the Queen was not in her usual place, she was very much in evidence and taking a keen interest in everything
Hence the fact that the Prince made a small piece of Cenotaph history yesterday when he became the first person to lay two wreaths in a single Remembrance Sunday service. After the two-minute silence, the Queen’s equerry, Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah of the Blues and Royals, stepped forward with the Sovereign’s wreath and handed it to the Prince who placed it in pride of place at the foot of the Cenotaph.
Once the Duke of Edinburgh’s equerry, Captain Ben Tracey of the Grenadier Guards, had laid the Duke’s wreath on his behalf, Prince Charles then returned to lay a tribute all over again – his own, complete with his distinctive Prince of Wales feathers. It meant that the only member of the royal wartime generation on parade was a shivering Duke of Kent, 82, who is both a Field Marshal and Colonel of the Scots Guards.
The bracing north-westerly wind had most people blinking hard against the elements, the Queen and the Duke, 96, included. They watched it all solemnly, occasionally swapping notes as the wreath-laying continued with the politicians and Commonwealth representatives. Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn was on his best behaviour, not only bowing his head but also singing (or at least moving his lips) during the national anthem later.
Just one glitch occurred when the Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, representing the House of Lords, had a butter-fingered moment and nearly dropped his poppies on the Cenotaph instead of laying them.
The Queen observing from the Balcony with other members of the Royal Family attending the Remembrance service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall
Prince Philip, 96, looked frail as he made his way from the balcony following the minutes of silence on Remembrance Sunday
At the conclusion of the national anthem, the Queen returned inside the Foreign Office, Prince Philip insisting the Duchess of Cornwall go first before following. Despite his retirement, he was determined not to miss this event or Saturday night’s Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.
The other VIPs withdrew, clearing the path for the Royal British Legion parade. More than 10,000 marchers from more than 260 organisations – everyone from the Durham Light Infantry and Coastal Command to the Army Widows Association – pushed shoulders back and started marking time. Like the main ceremony, it is a gloriously unchanging ritual, except, of course, in one regard – the gradual decline in veterans from the Second World War.
Even so, many were determined to be here yesterday, among them a large contingent marking the centenary of women in military uniform. Joan De-Vall, 92, marched the full length of Whitehall and round to Horse Guards in the same ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) uniform which both she and the Queen wore in wartime.
Several comrades had elected to be wheeled round the same route. All agreed that the Queen had done exactly the right thing by delegating her wreath-laying to the Prince of Wales.
‘Sometimes I find it awkward enough walking forwards let alone backwards,’ said Joan.
It was a day for marking many other anniversaries, too. It’s 75 years since the cruiser HMS Exeter was sunk in the Java Sea. It is also 35 years since the next HMS Exeter, a Type 42 destroyer, came within nine seconds of being sunk in the Falklands conflict.
The newly-created HMS Exeter Association was formed to bring together veterans and loved-ones from both of these great ships. Yesterday, the new organisation was marching for the first time.
‘It’s very moving the way the whole country comes together. The response from the crowd was just amazing,’ said former Leading Hand Dougie Leask, 58, from Gosport, afterwards.
His thoughts, as ever, were on absent friends and on his commanding officer in the Falklands, the late Rear-Admiral Hugh Balfour, ‘one of the finest leaders you could hope to serve’.
The Queen appeared emotional as she watched the ceremony below for Remembrance Sunday
Yesterday, Dougie was thinking of the moment 35 years ago, when an Argentine Exocet missile was locked on to HMS Exeter, nine seconds from impact, and Captain Balfour coolly despatched every available piece of weaponry with the order: ‘Thirty degrees starboard. Full steam ahead. Hit the deck.’ ‘That was the longest nine seconds of my life,’ said Dougie yesterday, ‘but that Exocet never arrived.’
Among the youngest on parade were Hannah Greetham, 14, and her brother, James, 17, both marching with the Monte Cassino Association in memory of their late grandfather, Lewis Greetham of the Royal Artillery.
He had come through the Battle of El Alamein with Monty in the North African desert.
He was fighting his way up through Italy when his unit came under attack while crossing a swollen river below the bloodbath that was Monte Cassino in 1944.
Gunner Lewis dived in to save two wounded comrades while under enemy fire, was himself injured and was later awarded the Military Medal. Two of his comrades were on parade yesterday. A third, however, was denied entry to the Cenotaph because he had not applied weeks in advance.
Jim Aston, 93, from Dudley, who served with the Royal Signals at Monte Cassino, had already been invited by the Royal British Legion to the Royal Albert Hall for Saturday night’s event.
He had hoped to attend the Cenotaph parade for the first and possibly last time in his life. However, although his association had saved a place for him in the parade and he had his passport with him, the police said that he lacked the requisite security clearance.
Following the last-minute intervention of the Mail, Mr Aston was wheeled through an x-ray machine and on to parade by his grandson, Richard, just in time. I gather that a number of other Second World War veterans were refused.
Note to organisers: We won’t have the wartime generation forever. Next year, if a few nonagenarians turn up with medals, ID and a heartfelt wish to pay their respects one last time, could someone show a bit of common sense?