Queen Elizabeth II Breaks Royal Tradition At Annual Remembrance Sunday Service

Queen Elizabeth II recently broke the royal tradition of laying a wreath for Britain’s fallen soldiers at the annual Remembrance Sunday service.

The 91-year-old queen asked her son, Prince Charles, to take on the sacred duty on Sunday, while Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, looked on. According to People, this is the first time that the queen was present at the ceremony but did not lay the wreath for the fallen soldiers.

Queen Elizabeth II has missed the annual Remembrance Sunday service six times throughout her reign when she was out of the country or pregnant with her two other sons, Prince Edward and Prince Andrew.

Photos of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip standing beside Prince Charles’ wife, Camilla, in the balcony also surfaced online. Sophie Wessex and Princess Alexandra also watched the ceremony from a different balcony. They were joined by Kate Middleton, who donned a much shorter hair.

Middleton’s husband, Prince William, and his younger brother, Prince Harry, were also present at the memorial service. They each laid a wreath in front of politicians, military leaders and veterans.

Following the service, approximately 10,000 men, women and veterans marched along the grand London Street. According to a former member of the household, the Remembrance Sunday service is one of Queen Elizabeth II’s most poignant traditions.

“After taking her oath at Westminster Abbey in 1952, to lay the wreath on behalf of millions of people killed in the First World War and subsequent conflicts is probably the most solemn thing she’s done as Sovereign. I think the psychology of having Prince Philip behind her made that little walk back a little bit easier for her,” the former member of the household said.

Queen Elizabeth II asking her son, Prince Charles, to lay the wreath, was also her way of involving him more in the ceremony. “It’s a good moment to give Prince Charles a highly symbolic and highly ceremonial act of monarchy. The public thought it was completely natural with her being 91,” the former member of the household added.