Joan Collins and Geri Horner lead stars in nationwide singalong for VE Day

Dame Joan Collins headed up a group of celebrities in a rousing rendition of We’ll Meet Again as they came together to celebrate the 75th VE Day anniversary.

The 86-year-old cut a very stylish figure as she sang her lines to camera as part of a video compilation created by the Royal British Legion, which was released on Tuesday.

While many stars featured in the collective masterpiece, other stars such as Geri Horner recorded their own rendition of the song to share on social media.  

Dame Joan was joined by a whole host of other famous faces including Lesley Joseph, Antony Cotton, Bill Bailey and Simon Williams. 

Alison Steadman, The Overtones, Ross Kemp, Elaine Paige, Robert Glenister and Clarke Peters also made an appearance.

Geri shared her own video singing the iconic tune to Instagram Stories after taking to the street to join her neighbours in singalong.  

Stellar: Geri shared her own video singing the iconic tune to Instagram Stories after taking to the street to join her neighbours in singalong

It inspired Britons across the nation, including NHS staff, pharmacists, transport workers and serving veterans, to get involved in their own singalong for a performance that aired on TV screens following the Queen’s speech at 9pm. 

We’ll Meet Again is considered one of the most poignant and inspiring songs of the Second World War, Dame Vera Lynn would sing it to soldiers as she travelled during the war.

The song title featured at the end of the Queen’s address to the nation during the early weeks of the coronavirus lockdown.

In an historic address, Her Majesty assured Britons: ‘Better days will return; we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.’

All together: Dame Joan was joined by a whole host of other famous faces including Lesley Joseph, Antony Cotton, Bill Bailey and Simon Williams

Special guests: Alison Steadman, The Overtones, Ross Kemp, Elaine Paige, Robert Glenister and Clarke Peters also made an appearance

Workers from across Britain all took part in a nationwide rendition of the wartime anthem

It comes after Katherine Jenkins, 39, duetted virtually with 103-year-old troop sweetheart Dame Vera as a young woman.

The songbird took to an empty Royal Albert Hall for 30 minutes behind closed doors for the first time in the venue’s 150-year history. 

She took to the stage next to a solitary grand piano wearing a stunning red floor-length gown.

A light blue banner along the bottom of the video appealed to the British public to donate £5 during the coronavirus crisis as she sang. 

Her touching performance was a fitting tribute to the wartime generation – those who served on the frontline in Europe, as well as the men, women and children involved in the home front effort.

The welsh classical singer had previously said: ‘Whilst we may not be able to celebrate this year as we once did, it’s only right that we don’t allow the 75th anniversary of this historic day to be overshadowed.’

Today marks the official surrender of Germany to Allied forces in 1945, bringing the war in Europe to an end.

Dame Vera Lynn: Forces’ Sweetheart who boosted Britons’ morale in WWII

Dame Vera was born on March 20, 1917 in London and her singing career was already flourishing when war broke out in 1939.

She was awarded the title Forces’ Sweetheart following a poll in the Daily Express, and travelled thousands of miles – often at great personal risk – to entertain the troops.

She also had a BBC radio show on which she performed songs such as We’ll Meet Again, I’ll Be Seeing You, Wishing, and If Only I Had Wings.

Dame Vera became known as the Forces’ Sweetheart during WWII (she is pictured with a cardboard cut-out of her as a young woman

Dame Vera famously visited the Forgotten Fourteenth Army which was fighting the bitter Burma campaign, and in 1985 was awarded the Burma Star for her contribution to the war effort there.

When the war was over she retired from the stage and microphone to bring up her daughter, Virginia, at their home in Sussex, but she remained in demand.

She toured throughout the world, visiting the US, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Dame Vera once said: ‘I have never been terribly ambitious. I never wanted to be a Judy Garland or anything, and I wouldn’t change the way I used to sing.

‘If work came along I liked, I would do it. If it interfered with home life for too long or took me away, I wouldn’t.’

Dame Vera’s hits included We’ll Meet Again, I’ll Be Seeing You, Wishing and If Only I Had Wings (she is pictured in 1955) 

In 2002, she founded cerebral palsy charity the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity, based in Billingshurst, West Sussex, which provides support and education for affected families.

She is involved with many other charities throughout the UK and beyond.

She has received accolades throughout her life, including an OBE in 1969, a DBE in 1975, and in 1978 she was given the Freedom of the City of London.