Royals watch flypast as thousands line streets for VE Day parade

The Royal Family have watched a flypast from the Buckingham Palace balcony to mark the start of four days of celebrations for the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

The thousands of people gathered in front of the palace and on The Mall cheered, clapped and waved flags as the Red Arrows and other RAF planes flew over. The King and Queen, who were joined by the Prince and Princess of Wales, their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, and other senior royals.

Since Queen Elizabeth II's death in 2022, it is the first VE Day event without any of the royals who waved to crowds from the balcony in 1945. Today is the first day of commemorations of the moment Sir Winston Churchill declared on 8 May 1945 that all German forces had surrendered.

The King stood to salute as personnel from allies including the US, Germany and France joined 1,300 members of the UK armed forces in a march towards Buckingham Palace. Crowds also gathered near the Cenotaph - draped in a Union Flag - fell silent as Big Ben struck 12.

Actor Timothy Spall then read extracts from Sir Winston's stirring victory speech 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 RAF veteran Alan Kennett, 100, who in 1945 was in a cinema in the German city of Celle when a soldier drove a jeep inside 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, which include a tea party inside Buckingham Palace and a street party hosted by the prime minister in Downing Street. The King appearance was his first in public since Prince Harry said on Friday that his father would not speak to him and he did not know how much longer his father has left.

But a Palace aide insisted the royals were "fully focused" on VE Day events after Harry's shock interview. The King and Queen were said to be "looking forward" to the week's commemorations and hoped "nothing will detract or distract" from celebrating.

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. VE Day in 1945 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 and 1940s fancy dress-ups.

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..