Prince William and Kate join King in display of unity at Remembrance service
King Charles III and Queen Camilla have been joined by senior members of the Royal Family tonight for the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.
The royal couple were accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent.
They were seen taking their places together in the royal box, with several members of the family wearing their honorary medals.
The Royal British Legion's annual remembrance service is dedicated this year to the two million National Servicemen who served in the post-war years up until 1963, as well as serving members of the Windrush generation and veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II.
(Getty Images)Ahead of the ceremony, the King and Queen unveiled life-sized bronze artworks of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Celebrating the couple's dedication to the Royal Albert Hall, the statues were erected as part of the building's 150th anniversary.
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Statues of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were also unveiled at the Royal Albert Hall this week. The works by artist Poppy Field, "complete" the building by filling the niches of its north porch, which have been empty since 1871, as well as those of the 2003 south porch.
King Charles II and Queen Camilla took their seats at the annual Royal British Legion ceremony (Getty Images)The commissioning of the sculptures was awarded following a competition involving a shortlist of seven sculptors supported by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST), a charity supporting excellence in British craftsmanship.
Charles and Camilla were welcomed to the Albert Hall by Sir Kenneth Olisa, the lord lieutenant of Greater London, and Ian McCulloch, president of the council of the Royal Albert Hall, who gave an introductory speech for more than a minute which seemed to irritate the king who looked impatiently at his watch and cleared his throat while Mr McCulloch spoke.
Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge arriving at the service (Getty Images)
Sophie, Countess of Wessex was also at the Royal Albert Hall (AP)He then did a “three, two, one” countdown to Camilla unveiling Prince Philip’s statue, and Charles again appeared impatient, moving his hand in a circling motion encouraging Mr McCulloch to speed things up. Camilla, in a Fiona Clare lace cocktail dress and jewellery from her private collection, then pulled a yellow rope, which drew back the red velvet curtain over the statue of Philip. Charles then unveiled the statue of his late mother, and briefly looked up at the bronze, before making his way into the hall with Camilla.
A statue of Queen Elizabeth II at Royal Albert Hall was unveiled by King before the ceremony (PA)
The statues, including one of Prince Philip, were erected as part of the building's 150th anniversary (PA)Ian McCulloch, president of the Royal Albert Hall, said: "It is particularly fitting for our distinctive building to mark the contribution to our history of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who supported and attended the hall devotedly for so many decades."
Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester appeared with Kate Middleton and Prince William at the Royal British Legion's event (AP)Deborah Pocock, the CEO of QUEST, said: “We are so proud and grateful to the Hall for commissioning QEST Scholars to create these sculptures, and extremely honoured that they should be unveiled by the King and Queen.”
The North Porch figures were funded by the Dangoor family’s Exilarch's Foundation. The South Porch sculptures were made possible by a donation from the David Brownlow Charitable Foundation.
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