The great-great-grandson of wartime prime minister Sir Winston Churchill is to light a candle of peace at the moving thanksgiving service marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
Alexander Churchill, aged 10, will perform the gesture while young members of the congregation poignantly hand out white roses to Second World War veterans sitting in the nave of Westminster Abbey on Thursday.
The King, the Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales will be among those gathered for the emotive event in central London, marking 80 years since Victory in Europe Day.
Kate will join Camilla and other royals in laying flowers at the Innocent Victims’ Memorial outside the abbey’s West Door in tribute to all victims of war and oppression at the close of the proceedings.
The live televised service will begin with a national two-minute silence in honour of those who made sacrifices during the conflict, both on the front line and at home, to protect people’s freedom and shared values.
Charles and his eldest son and heir William will then lay wreaths of seasonal flowers which would have been in bloom in May 1945 at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior.
The King will do so on behalf of the nation and the Commonwealth, and William for the veterans and the wartime generation, with 99-year-old Ken Hay, who served in the 4th Dorset infantry regiment, at their side.
Second World War artefacts including a gas mask and an air raid warden’s helmet, representing the armed forces and the Home Front, will be processed through the abbey.
The royal family will stand with the congregation as the symbols of the conflict, from the Imperial War Museum’s collection, are carried and placed near the High Altar.
Amid the hymns, wartime anthems will form the soundtrack to the anniversary commemorations with The White Cliffs Of Dover sung by Zizi Strallen and When The Lights Go On Again (All Over The World) played by the RAF band.
At the end, the tune of We’ll Meet Again will echo out.
The hit was made famous by forces’ sweetheart the late Dame Vera Lynn, and channelled in 2020 by Queen Elizabeth II, who expressed the sentiment in her televised address to the nation at the start of the pandemic.
The music will also include Hubert Parry’s Songs Of Farewell, which was sung at the late Queen’s state funeral.
On VE Day, the then-Princess Elizabeth, just 19, secretly celebrated among the crowds who gathered on the streets of London with sister Princess Margaret, jubilant that peace had come to Europe after Nazi Germany’s surrender.
A setting of words from Psalm 46 by Sir John Rutter, which was composed specially for a service to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020 that was unable to go ahead due to the Covid-19 lockdown, will be performed for the first time on television.
An extract of Sir Winston’s VE Day speech will be played in the church, and actor Josh Dylan will read a moving letter by Fredrick Burgess, a serving soldier on the front line, written to his seven-year-old son.
Actress Nina Sosanya will share a letter written by Janet Thornton to her young daughters on VE Day, and Cadet Warrant Officer Bethan Holmes will read from the memoir of Joan Broome, a 15-year-old girl, of her experience of VE Day in London
Some 78 veterans are expected to attend alongside Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who will give a bible reading.
Also there will be senior government and military representatives, members of the Diplomatic Corps, service chiefs, parliamentarians, former British prime ministers and representatives of faith communities.
The sermon will be delivered by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, the temporary leader of the Church in England in the absence of an Archbishop of Canterbury.
The King and Queen, accompanied by members of the royal family, will meet and spend time with the veterans in the abbey’s nave at the end of the service.
Also there will be 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.
Camilla, Kate, Sophie, Anne and the Duchess of Gloucester will place posies and Sir Tim, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent will leave white roses at the large circular slate Innocent Victims’ Memorial on departure.
The bells of the abbey church will be “fired” 80 times – meaning all 10 bells will be sounded simultaneously to produce a powerful clashing sound.
The gesture is generally reserved for great celebrations, anniversaries and rejoicing.
On VE Day – May 8 1945 – short “thanksgiving for victory” services were held every hour in the abbey from 9am to 10pm, with an estimated 25,000 people attending.
