Speaking on the eve of Anzac Day on Monday – which commemorates the thousands of these soldiers who died in the ill-fated 1915 campaign in Gallipoli – Charles and Camilla said their thoughts are also with other communities now experiencing conflict.
The heir to the throne said in a statement: “On this day Anzac and my wife think of all the courageous armies that endured so much in 1915 on the beaches and harsh hills of the Gallipoli Peninsula.
“As we stop to reflect on the casualties of Australian and New Zealand military personnel in the two world wars, as well as in other conflicts and peacekeeping operations, our thoughts will also be with those communities around the world that are torn apart by violence and conflicts, and those who fights for freedom in the face of oppression.
“In 1916, a year after landing in Gallipoli, my great-grandfather, King George V, wrote of the first Anzacs:” They gave their lives for the highest cause in the gallant society. “
“One hundred and six years later, the gallant society remains a defining feature of men and women in the form of New Zealand and Australia.”
April 25 – National Remembrance Day of Australia and New Zealand in honor of the anniversary of the Gallipoli landing.
In this campaign, waves of Allied troops launched a landing attack on the strategically important Turkish peninsula, which was key to controlling the Dardanelles, a crucial route to the Black Sea and Russia.
The plan, backed by then-First Admiralty Lord Winston Churchill, was flawed, and troops faced heroic protection from the Turks, who withdrew eight months later. An estimated 100,000 troops from both sides were killed in the campaign in Gallipoli, including more than 10,000 from Australia and New Zealand.
His legacy is a celebration of the “spirit of Anzac” – courage, endurance, initiative, discipline and camaraderie – manifested by armies of antipodes.
On Monday in London’s Hyde Park Corner, the Queen’s cousin, the Duke of Gloucester, will take part in the celebration of Anzac Day at the Wellington Arch.
The Duke of Cambridge will then lay a wreath on behalf of the Queen to the Cenotaph and take part in a Thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey.
