National Service of Remembrance
Following this, wreaths are laid by the King and members of the royal family, senior politicians representing their respective political parties and High commissioners from the Commonwealth of Nations.
[2] The Cenotaph has its origin in a temporary wood and plaster structure designed by Edwin Lutyens for a peace parade following the end of the First World War.
[9] The unveiling ceremony was part of a larger procession bringing the Unknown Warrior to be laid to rest in his tomb nearby in Westminster Abbey.
The funeral procession route passed the Cenotaph, where the waiting King laid a wreath on the Unknown Warrior's gun-carriage before proceeding to unveil the memorial which was draped in large Union Flags.
[10] During the Second World War, the National Service and other commemorations were moved from Armistice Day itself to the preceding Sunday as an emergency measure, to minimise any loss of wartime production.
[13][14] As the band plays "Dido's Lament" by Henry Purcell, the clergy led by a cross-bearer and the choir of the Chapel Royal process.
During Solemn Melody by Henry Walford Davies, politicians, high commissioners and religious leaders from many faiths assemble, joined by humanists representing the non-religious.
[19] At the 2018 service, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of Germany, at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II on the advice of her government, next laid a wreath on behalf of the German people, marking the first time a representative of that country has done so.
The Massed Band plays "Beethoven Funeral March No.1" by Johann Heinrich Walch as wreaths laid by the Prime Minister on behalf of His Majesty's Government (and other Commonwealth leaders if they are present[22]), the Leader of the Opposition, then leaders of major political parties; the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker; the Foreign Secretary; the Home Secretary (in 2019); Commonwealth High Commissioners, plus the former living UK prime ministers (John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak) and the ambassadors of Ireland (since 2014) and Nepal (since 2019);[23][24] representatives from the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force; the Merchant Navy and fishing fleets; and finally, the civilian emergency services.
Members of the Reserve Forces and cadet organisations join in with the marching, alongside volunteers from St John Ambulance, paramedics from the London Ambulance Service, and conflict veterans from World War II, Korea, the Falklands, the Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan and other past conflicts.
[16] Professor Jeffrey Richards notes that the format of the ceremony was "more or less finalized by 1921" although before the Second World War, the wreath-laying by the monarch and dignitaries took place before 11 am.
[2][47] The BBC Television Service was suspended at the outbreak of World War II and the broadcast resumed in November 1946 when George VI unveiled the addition of the dates of that conflict, MCMXXXIX (1939) to MCMXLV (1945) to the Cenotaph.
