Royal family leads VE Day commemorations from Buckingham Palace balcony
Buckingham Palace's famous balcony hosted the royal family's VE Day commemorations 80 years after King George VI first marked the Second World War's end from the same spot.
The historic moment saw thousands flock to The Mall in 1945 and the scenes were repeated on Monday as crowds gathered to greet the King and Queen and watch an RAF flypast after an armed forces parade through the capital.
Members of the monarchy sat with veterans as the current crop of servicemen and women, including Nato allies, marched past in recognition of those who served to defeat Hitler's Nazi regime and bring peace to Europe.
Later the King stepped on to the balcony with the Queen and was joined by the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, to acknowledge the cheers of well-wishers and watch the aerial display led by a Second World War-era Lancaster bomber.
The King's naval No.1 dress uniform reflected the outfit worn by his grandfather George VI on VE Day – May 8 1945 – who with the Queen Mother made eight balcony appearances to satisfy boisterous crowds at the palace gates.
Planes roared overhead during the aerial display and William chatted to son George, while Louis was seen moving his head from side to side apparently trying to get a better sight of the planes.
Louis, who recently celebrated his seventh birthday, seems to revel in these public moments and pulled a face of awe as the RAF aircraft flew overhead.
At one point the Waleses, except Charlotte, leaned to the left as the planes, featuring workhorses like a C-17 Globemaster alongside Typhoon FGR4 fighters, flew down The Mall, with the Red Arrows providing the finale.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
13 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Elon Musk's sister Tosca cashes in on Trump feud in bizarre X-rated silver
Elon Musk 's sister found an unexpected silver lining amid the escalating feud between her brother and Donald Trump - a surge in traffic to her streaming platform. The once-cozy bromance between the world's richest and most powerful men unraveled on Thursday, as Musk called for Trump's impeachment over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein - prompting the president to suggest deporting the SpaceX CEO. But Tosca Musk, sister of the billionaire and founder of steamy streaming platform Passionflix, seemed to seize the moment on X, cashing in on the viral feud and promoting her new series. 'Due to the massive influx of viewers today on Passionflix the app is down,' Tosca shared to X on Thursday afternoon. 'Stay with us, we're working on it!' she added, accompanied by a few emojis. 'Black Dagger Brotherhood!' Tosca runs Passionflix, a streaming platform dedicated to film adaptions of erotic romance novels, where she also serves as a director and producer on many of its steamy projects, as reported by IMBD. 'Stories for women should be told by women. That's what we do,' Tosca, speaking about the platform, told the outlet in December. 'I want to make sure that that the stories are told for the female gaze,' she added. The once-cozy bromance between the world's richest and most powerful men unraveled on Thursday, as Musk called for Trump's impeachment over ties to Jeffrey Epstein - prompting the president to suggest deporting the SpaceX CEO 'There is a delicate touch that I want to see in our movies, and I want women to tell those stories.' Within the same hour, the 50-year-old filmmaker announced on X that the site was back up and running, allowing romance fans to resume binging Black Dagger Brotherhood - a new series based on J.R. Ward's bestselling paranormal romance novels. This isn't the first time Passionflix has experienced shifting viewership, often rising or falling in step with Elon's high-profile actions, especially during periods when he was closely aligned with the White House. Earlier this year, Tosca faced a wave of backlash on her erotic film site after critics on the left accused her brother of making a 'Nazi salute'. In January, she was in the audience with their mother Maye at Trump's inauguration, where Elon quickly drew backlash over his controversial 'salute' to the crowd at the Capital One arena. Musk made light of the controversy, but Tosca's site began receiving furious comments. 'Don't shop at Naziflix,' one angry commenter wrote on its Facebook page. Another said: 'Good Luck finding any actors who want to take part in your movies Tosca Musk, you and your family are disgusting.' 'STOP SUPPORTING PASSIONFLIX TOSCA IS A NAZI LOVER LIKE HER BROTHER READ WHAT SHE WROTE ON X' wrote a third. Another commented: 'Is this the Nazi's sister?' Passionflix was launched by Tosca in 2017. Though the exact number of subscribers isn't publicly released, they offer a monthly subscription for $5.99 or a Signature Membership for $125 a year. Previously the president has stood by Elon during high-profile moments like this, but their alliance appears to have dramatically unraveled this week following the SpaceX CEO's public opposition to Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'. On Tuesday, Elon posted on his social media platform that the bill was an 'abomination' and went on to urge Senators to 'kill the bill' on Wednesday. Two White House officials familiar with the matter told a Reuters reporter that Trump expressed confusion and frustration in the meeting about Elon's attacks on his sweeping tax and spending bill on Wednesday. But the president held back, the officials said, because he wanted to preserve Elon's political and financial support ahead of the midterm elections. However, by Thursday afternoon, Trump's mood had shifted and an all out war of words began which led to Musk accusing Trump of blocking the Epstein files' release because appears in them. With each post, the spat became yet more virulent - until Elon dropped a new allegation which could one day prove to be the catalyst leading to the downfall of Trump - his connection to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein (pictured left) Musk's Tesla stock has been down 29.5 percent so far this year - but notably, 14 percent of that drop came in the immediate aftermath of Elon's online clash with the president, who also threatened to end his lucrative federal contracts, Reuters reported. When asked for comment, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Mail in a statement: 'This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted'. 'The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again,' she added.
Scotsman
6 hours ago
- Scotsman
Incredible footage from inside Typhoon's cockpit shows VE Day flypast
Watch: POV you're a pilot flying a Typhoon over London for the 80th VE Day flypast Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Incredible footage from inside the cockpit of a typhoon shows the flypast over London. The VE Day flypast took place in the skies over the capital earlier this week. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Thousands of people flocked to London to watch the commemorative flypast, which flew over The Mall and Buckingham Palace. Incredible footage inside Typhoon shows VE Day flypast over London | SWNS Senior Royals, including The King, Queen Camilla, and the Prince and Princess of Wales watched on in delight from the balcony as the aircraft whizzed over the palace. As ever the Wales children - especially Prince Louis - delighted fans with their animated facial expressions and sweet waves. The video shared by SWNS shows the view from inside the cockpit of a Typhoon, which jetted over London alongside the Red Arrows and other military aircraft, including a Lancaster Bomber.
Scotsman
a day ago
- Scotsman
Whispers in the Glen by Sue Lawrence review: 'an unusual novel'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... This is an engaging and agreeable novel, an unusual one, too, with a strong narrative and for the most part pleasant and credible characters. It is set mostly in Glen Clova in Angus, though some chapters are set in France. It has a double time-frame, the story being set partly in the First World War, partly in the Second. What is unusual is that we move between these two periods from the beginning, and it is not immediately clear why the author has chosen this arrangement. It soon makes sense, however, and proves very effective. Glen Clova | Getty Images In the first chapter the two main protagonists are middle-aged, neither married. Effie - Euphemia - is the village schoolmistress while Nell is serving as the wartime postie, also helping in the bar at the local hotel. Effie, though a kind and understanding teacher, is grumpy at home. You soon suspect that something has gone wrong in her life. Nell seems much more at ease, much happier. Their mother is long, somewhat mysteriously dead. Their father, the local dominie, is shown in the First World War passages to have been harsh and disagreeable. Is there something mysterious about his wife's death? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Somewhat surprisingly, both Effie and Nell are fluent French-speakers. In the First World War passages this is soon explained: Nell is working as a nurse in a field hospital in France, the work and conditions being well described. One officer, himself from Angus, is disagreeable, but put in his place by a crippled French chef. Meanwhile, back in Glen Clova, Effie spends part of the First World War working on an aunt's form. She has a harsh experience which colours or rather discolours her life. Then, in the Second World War, there is a plane crash at the top of the Glen, an event which comes with consequences. However, the author eschews most violent drama; this is a very sane novel. Lawrence has evident sympathy and affection for her characters, and the evocation of rural Scotland a hundred years ago is engaging, pleasing with its echoes of JM Barrie's Thrums, though there is none of the sentimentality for so long associated with the Kailyard. Sensibly, Lawrence has chosen not to attempt to try to reproduce the language of rural Scots a hundred years ago, and to write in Standard English. Nevertheless, her feeling for the life of the Angus Glens rings agreeably true. This is a quiet novel, agreeably persuasive, and this makes its occasional violent, even vicious, moments all the more telling. It is, I suppose, a feminist book, though not stridently so. There are two deplorable men, the girls' father and a Kirriemuir man, the officer first met by Nell in France who has more than a touch of the villain about him. He is necessary to the plot, and, though unpleasant, not exaggeratedly so. In general the novel is suffused by a sense of decency and kindness, rare in fiction today, and it brings this off without a trace of sentimentality. In short, Lawrence has written an admirable novel with persuasive characters, the treatment of the two sisters being as convincing as it is agreeable. If the ending proves a bit on the sentimental side, its generosity is convincing.
