William Joins The Royal Family To Pay Silent Tribute (Updated)
Written by Joanne Leyland
Sunday, 11 November 2007
Page 1 of 10
Prince William has made his debut at the Cenotaph this morning, where he
joined the Queen and other members of his family in paying silent tribute to
all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
Wearing the full full dress uniform of an officer in the Blues and Royals of the Household
Cavalry, 25-year-old William took a further step towards his ultimate destiny
as King by taking a central role in a ceremony which is seen by millions across the globe
and reminds us all that royal life and duty is about far more than tabloid headlines.
Although he has previously attended the ceremony, standing alongside
his stepmother the Duchess of Cornwall on the balcony of the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, this is the first time the second-in-line to the throne has
taken an active part in the service.
This year Camilla was accompanied on the balcony overlooking the Cenotaph by Princess Anne's second husband, Vice Admiral Tim Laurence.
Prince Harry is yet to make an appearance at the public services
in Whitehall which annually take place on the second weekend in November. However,
the Prince has paid his own tribute to the war dead at a ceremony in
Windsor.
Standing in solemn silence after laying a wreath at the steps of the
Cenotaph, William's mind may have turned to the deaths on the front
line of two personal friends from Sandhurst: Joanna Dyer, who died in a
roadside bomb attack by insurgents in Iraq, and Major Alexis Roberts,
who was killed in a bomb which explosed at a base in Kandahar in
Afghanistan.
At the steps of the Cenotaph, a large contingency of senior royals stood for
the two-minute silence which this year took place on Armistice Day itself marking the eleventh hour
of the eleventh day on which the guns fell silent on this day in 1918, thereby marking the end of World War I.
