William to commemorate Australian and New Zealand troops killed on Anzac Day

William, second in line to the throne, will also be remembered Australians and New Zealanders who lost their lives in the conflict while attending a Thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey, Kensington Palace said.

The two events will take place on April 25 and will take place after a service at the Wellington Arch in London. Corner of Hyde Park in which the Queen’s cousin the Duke of Gloucester will take part.

About 300-400 ex-servicemen and members of their families, members of veterans’ associations will gather at the Cenotaph to lay wreaths.

The traditional church service at the abbey will feature a speech by the Dean of Westminster, readings by the High Commissioners of New Zealand and Australia, prayers recited by children of each country, and a Maori wyat performed by London Maori Club Ngati Ranana.

In recent years, it has become customary to lay a wreath on behalf of the Queen to other family members.

The Duke of Sussex did so in 2016 and 2018, and in 2019 attended a service at the abbey with his daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, a few days before the birth of his son Archie.

William celebrated Anzac Day in 2021 by sending a message to the High Commissions of New Zealand and Australia in London, saying: “Today we reflect together not only on their victims, but also on their courage, sense of duty and their known steadfastness. ».

The Duke was on a two-day trip to New Zealand in 2019 to honor the victims of the terrorist attack in Christchurch, and laid a wreath during a memorial service on Anzac Day in Auckland.

The Royal Princess attended last year’s dawn and a meeting at the abbey.

April 25 marks the anniversary of the beginning of the Gallipoli Landing in World War I and is a national day of remembrance for Australia and New Zealand.

Thousands of Anzac troops – Australian and New Zealand army corps – were killed in the ill-fated 1915 campaign in Gallipoli.

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.

But the plan, backed by Winston Churchill, was a mistake, and the campaign, which faced heroic protection from the Turks, led to a stalemate and retreat eight months later.

His legacy is a celebration of the “spirit of Anzac” – courage, endurance, initiative, discipline and camaraderie – manifested by armies of antipodes.