King stands in salute as thousands line streets for VE Day parade

The King stood to salute as he watched a military parade marking the start four days of celebrations for the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day.  Thousands of people lined London's streets as personnel from NATO allies, including the US, Germany and France, joined 1,300 members of the UK armed forces in a march towards Buckingham Palace.

Crowds near the Cenotaph - draped in a large Union Flag for the first time since the war memorial was unveiled by King George V more than a century ago in 1920 - fell silent as Big Ben struck 12. Actor Timothy Spall then read extracts from Sir Winston Churchill's stirring victory speech on 8 May 1945 as the wartime prime minister told cheering crowds: "This is not victory of a party or of any class.

It's a victory of the great British nation as a whole." The military parade was officially started by Normandy RAF veteran Alan Kennett, 100, who was in a cinema in the north German city of Celle when the doors burst open as a soldier drove a jeep into the venue and shouted: "The war is over." The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery led the march down Whitehall, through Admiralty Arch and up The Mall, while representatives of the Ukrainian military were cheered and clapped by crowds. More than 30 Second World War veterans are attending celebrations in the capital, including 26 who are watched the parade.

The King stood to salute as the procession reached the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, where he watched along with the Queen, Sir Keir Starmer, other senior royals and Second World War veterans. It is the King's first public appearance since Prince Harry said his father will not speak to him and he does not know how much longer the monarch has left.

But a Palace aide insisted the Royal Family were "fully focused" on VE Day events after Harry's shock interview with the BBC after losing a legal challenge over his security arrangements on Friday. The King and Queen were said to be "looking forward" to the week's commemorations and hoped "nothing will detract or distract" from celebrating.

The Prince and Princess of Wales were also seated on the platform with their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. Prince Louis fiddled with his hair in the breezy conditions, while Kate sat next to veteran Bernard Morgan, who earlier appeared to show her some vintage photographs.

Members of the royal family are later expected to make an appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch the RAF flypast. It is the first landmark VE Day commemoration event without any of the royals who waved to crowds from the balcony in 1945 after Queen Elizabeth II's death in 2022.

Then a young princess, she sneaked out into the streets to join the celebrating crowds and later spoke of being swept up in a "tide of happiness and relief". Monday is the first of four days of commemorations of the moment then prime minister Sir Winston declared that all German forces had surrendered at 3pm on 8 May 1945.

It marked the end of almost six years of war in Europe, in which 384,000 British soldiers and 70,000 civilians were killed, and sparked two days of joyous celebrations in London. Sir Keir said in an open letter to veterans: "VE Day is a chance to acknowledge, again, that our debt to those who achieved it can never fully be repaid." Along with the events in the capital, people are celebrating across the UK with street parties, tea parties, 1940s fancy dress-ups and gatherings on board Second World War ships.

The Palace of Westminster, the Shard, Lowther Castle in Penrith, Manchester Printworks, Cardiff Castle and Belfast City Hall are among hundreds of buildings which will be lit up from 9pm on Tuesday. A new display of almost 30,000 ceramic poppies at the Tower of London will form another tribute.

On Thursday, a service at Westminster Abbey will begin with a national two-minute silence before Horse Guards Parade holds a live celebratory concert to round off the commemorations. Churches and cathedrals across the country will ring their bells as a collective act of thanksgiving at 6.30pm, echoing the sounds that swept across the country in 1945, the Church of England said.

Pubs and bars have also been granted permission to stay open for longer to mark the anniversary two extra hours past 11pm..