King Charles is set to lead the nation in marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day with a series of events, including music and entertainment, a flypast, and a parade, to honour our war heroes

The King will lead the nation in marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day at a series of events to honour our war heroes.

Charles and senior members of the royal family will pay tribute to the fallen at a special Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, as part of a special programme of commemorations. Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, are expected to join the Prime Minister, and hundreds of veterans and their families at the service.

At the Cenotaph on May 8, the King will also lead the royals as they attend commemorations marking 80 years since the end of WWII in 1945. The government is due to release a series of details on events that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said will offer a moment for the nation to come together and “do that generation proud”.

King Charles will lead celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day ( 
Image:
POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
They include a music and entertainment concert at Horse Guards Parade and a stunning flypast of aircraft from the RAF’s historic Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and the Red Arrows to pay tribute to the veterans. As part of commemorations, military and civilian services will join organisations and associations representing those who fought in the Second World War in Europe for a parade from Westminster Abbey and up to Whitehall.

The parade will pass the famous balcony where Winston Churchill appeared before the crowds on VE Day after his famous speech to mark Victory in Europe. As the parade enters Horse Guards Parade the flypast will take place.

William and Kate will join in the celebrations
A royal source said the King has been “determined to pay tribute to our war heroes” after a tumultuous year where he has returned to duties while continuing treatment for cancer. Sources suggest Buckingham Palace will also release a personal tribute from the King to those WWII heroes and generations of service personnel who have followed and many who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Thousands up and down the country will also join in street parties during the bank holiday weekend, from Saturday, May 3 to Monday, May 5. St Paul’s Cathedral, the Houses of Parliament and Trafalgar Square will all be lit up with V-shaped beams of light each evening, recreating what happened back in 1945.

During the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020, the late Queen Elizabeth II delivered a poignant speech to the nation. Recorded in The White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, the speech was broadcast at 9pm across televisio, radio and social media – the same time her father, King George VI, spoke to the country in a radio address on May 8 1945.

The late Queen Elizabeth II gave a poignant speech to the nation for the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020 ( 
Image:
BBC STUDIOS EVENTS/AFP via Getty)In it, she spoke about the families torn apart by the war and recalled her own memories of looking out from Buckingham Palace with her parents and Winston Churchill at jubilant crowds when it ended. In the address, the late Queen’s second broadcast in five weeks, following her national address about the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic, she also said the “greatest tribute” to those who sacrificed their lives so we could live in peace was that “countries who were once sworn enemies are now friends”.

On the 50th anniversary VE Day in 1995, half a million packed into The Mall for what was dubbed the “biggest party in Britain since the end of the war”. The late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was at the time very much the focal point of commemorations, appearing on the Buckingham Palace balcony with her daughters Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret to huge cheers from the crowds.

Forces sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn, who was then 78 years old, got up on a stage that had been set up in front of the Palace and began to sing one of her great wartime anthems, The White Cliffs of Dover. The royals all joined in, as did everyone else in The Mall. The crowds were then greeted with a flypast by historic aircraft including a Spitfire, a Hurricane and a Lancaster bomber, all of which had been present at the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.