A service is being held at London’s Westminster Abbey to mark the centenary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior.
The televised service, to be attended by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, will commemorate the funeral of an unknown British serviceman whose body was brought back from Northern France.
He was buried at the west end of the abbey’s nave on November 11 2020 to represent all those who lost their lives in the First World War but whose place of death was unknown or body never found.
King George V pays his tribute as he placed a wreath on the coffin, mounted on a gun carriage, in Whitehall where the Cenotaph stands (PA)Crowds lined the streets of Boulogne in France as the coffin carrying the Unknown Warrior begins its journey to Westminster Abbey (PA)Royal Navy Bluejackets guard the coffin aboard HMS Verdun as it sailed from France (PA)The coffin being carried into the abbey (PA)It is not known where in France the British soldier died, nor when, and he symbolises all the unknown dead of the First World War, no matter where they fell (PA)
The grave, which contains soil from France, is covered by a slab of black Belgian marble. It is set in the abbey’s nave by the Great West Door.
The Queen visited the grave of the Unknown Warrior last week to mark 100 years since he was interred (Aaron Chown/PA)Women from the National Association of Flower Arrangers arrange laurel on the grave ahead of Wednesday’s service (Aaron Chown/PA)The Queen looks on as Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry (left) and Trooper Mark Donaldson, who both hold the Victoria Cross, lay a wreath on Armistice Day in 2009 (PA)Japanese Emperor Akihito watches as a wreath is laid on his behalf in 1998 (PA)US president Barack Obama, watched by his wife Michelle, during a wreath-laying during his three-day state visit to the UK in 2011 (PA)
The late Queen Mother established the tradition of royal brides sending their wedding bouquets to the abbey to be placed on the grave.
Stuart Holmes, deputy registrar of Westminster Abbey, places the bridal bouquet from Princes Diana following her wedding to Charles in 1981 (PA)The Dean of Westminster Dr Wesley Carr kneels behind the bridal bouquet of the Countess of Wessex in 1999 (PA)The Duchess of Sussex continued the tradition after her 2018 wedding (Victoria Jones/PA)The wedding bouquet of Princess Eugenie in 2018 (John Stillwell/PA)