UK marks Remembrance Sunday

By Busra Akin Dincer

LONDON

Services have been held across the U.K. to mark Remembrance Sunday which honors those who lost their lives in both World Wars and later conflicts.

Two minutes of silence began at 11 a.m. local time (1100GMT). Veterans and serving members of the British armed forces gathered at the Cenotaph in central London, the focal point for commemorations over the last nine decades.

Queen Elizabeth II led the services and laid the first poppy wreath at the Cenotaph for those killed in past and present conflicts.

Members of the royal family joined the monarch at the service along with Prime Minister Theresa May, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

May laid her first wreath on behalf of the government as prime minister.

This year’s commemorations are particularly significant for the U.K. as 2016 marks the centenary of First World War engagements such as the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Jutland.

The British army lost more than 60,000 soldiers on the first day of the Battle of the Somme alone.