Buckingham Palace marks 25th anniversary of 9/11 with special Guard ceremony

The royal couple received the Royal Salute on the palace forecourt.

US Ambassador Warren Stephens joined them, alongside roughly 40 invited guests made up of British and American nationals.

The commemorative guard change honoured the nearly 3,000 lives lost in the 2001 atrocities, with the Coldstream Guards providing the musical centrepiece for the solemn occasion.

As the Coldstream Guards band marched towards the palace, they played two celebrated American military marches: The Thunderer and The Stars and Stripes Forever.

On the forecourt, the musical programme took on a more reflective tone, with performances of both the US and British national anthems.

The band also performed Hymn to the Fallen, the stirring composition by John Williams from the film Saving Private Ryan, alongside a rendition of Amazing Grace.

The selection blended patriotic tributes with pieces of deep emotional resonance, befitting an occasion that commemorates one of the deadliest terrorist atrocities in modern history.

The ceremony echoed a historic gesture of solidarity from a quarter of a century ago, when Queen Elizabeth II requested that the Coldstream Guards band play the American national anthem during the Changing of the Guard on Thursday 13 September 2001, just two days after the attacks.

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester have been closely involved in related commemorations this year.

In August, the couple represented the King at the inaugural National Day for Victims and Survivors of Terrorism, held at Lancaster House.

Today’s guard change continued that thread of remembrance, reinforcing the enduring bond between Britain and the United States in the face of terrorism.