UK’s Queen Elizabeth leads tributes to war dead

LONDON

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II led tributes to her country’s war dead in a somber central London ceremony on Sunday morning.

Thousands of veterans and spectators gathered around the Cenotaph war memorial in central London to commemorate those who were killed during two world wars in the last century, as well as more recent conflicts.

Two minutes of silence were held at 11 a.m. local time before the monarch laid a wreath of poppies at the memorial on behalf of her country.

She was followed by Willem-Alexander, the visiting king of the Netherlands, who was invited to this year’s commemorations to mark the liberation of Holland during the Second World War.

The Queen, 89, stood throughout the 20-minute ceremony as U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, opposition politicians and ambassadors representing former British colonies around the world laid floral tributes of their own.

Remembrance Sunday commemorations are held each year in Britain on the Sunday closest to 11 Nov., the anniversary of the end of the First World War in 1918.

No British veterans who fought in that conflict are alive today after Florence Green, who signed up to the Women’s Royal Air Force, died in 2012 at the age of 111.