Prince Harry leads Armistice Day tributes as Britain falls silent
PRINCE Harry led the country in remembering the fallen on Armistice Day, laying a wreath at the National Memorial Arboretum.
Harry, 32, attended a Remembrance Service at the Armed Forces Memorial alongside veterans and representatives of the Army, Royal Navy and RAF.
Harry attended the Remembrance Service alongside veterans and representatives of the Army, Royal Navy and RAF
After paying his respects, he read aloud a poem, The Soldier, by the First World War poet Rupert Brooke.
Harry served for ten years in the Army, and was twice deployed to Afghanistan.
As people fell silent at commemorations across the UK, he joined senior military personnel, veterans and members of the public at the arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire, for a service held within the walls of the national Armed Forces Memorial.
The memorial is designed so that on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month a shaft of sunlight dissects its inner and outer walls, hitting a bronze wreath sculpture.
Lieutenant Colonel David Whimpenny, chairman of the National Memorial Arboretum and trustee of its parent charity, The Royal British Legion, said: "Today, led by Prince Harry, we paid tribute to the servicemen and women that have sacrificed their lives for their country, from the First World War to the current day."
Prince Harry also took the salute during a parade of current serving personnel and veterans at the event, which concluded with a flypast of Squirrel HT1 helicopters from the Defence Helicopter Flying School at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire.
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Both Prince Harry and the Duke of Cambridge trained at RAF Shawbury and flew Squirrel helicopters as part of their course.
Earlier, Harry had been shown some of the 16,000 names which are carved into the Portland Stone of the main memorial commemorating those who have fallen on active service since 1948.
He was shown the newest additions to the bright cream-coloured stone - those who fell in 2015, including the RAF's Flight Lieutenant Alan Scott and Flight Lieutenant Geraint Roberts, who died in Afghanistan on October 11 that year.
Harry took his time as he walked along the towering edifice of the memorial, and its row upon row of names, and again paused by the names of those killed during the Falklands War in 1982.
Later, a crowd of many hundreds applauded as he took the salute from a parade of serving and former servicemen and servicewomen, in the bright autumn sunshine.
Afterwards, he noticed a group of schoolchildren stood opposite the parade dais, who had made the trip from Herefordshire, and went across to say hello.
The 23 children, from Ashperton Primary School near Ledbury, chatted away with the smiling prince, who asked them "Who sat on the back seat of the coach?"
He said: "It's still cool to be on the back seat?
"So this has been a day-trip for you guys then?"
The Soldier, by Rupert Brooke
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven
The children, all aged ten and 11, seemed delighted with the prince's line of questioning and chorused back: "Yes."
Harry then bid them farewell, adding: "Enjoy it, make the most of the sunshine."
Teacher Caroline Bullock, who revealed the youngsters had been studying battles in class, said: "He asked us, 'do we think Prince Harry is the naughty one?'
"He's so lovely, he makes the Royal Family normal, and he's so approachable."
The school group were also supportive of the Prince's relationship with US actress Meghan Markle, with teaching assistant Emma Shelley, saying: "If he's happy, then what's the problem?"
Harry has continued his association with the military since leaving, most notably with his work supporting the nation's injured, sick and wounded servicemen and women through a number of projects, including his Invictus Games.
On Thursday, he visited Westminster Abbey's Field of Remembrance to lay small wooden crosses with his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh.
The event was Harry's first public engagement since he confirmed Ms Markle is his girlfriend.
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