King leads nation in tribute to the greatest generation
Source: gov.uk (2025-05-02)

His Majesty The King will join Second World War veterans in London tomorrow for a military procession and fly past to mark VE Day 80

- Hollywood actor Timothy Spall will read Churchill speech
- Iconic buildings across the country will light up from Tuesday evening in tribute
- National two-minute silence will be held at 12 noon on Thursday
Four days of national commemorations to the Second World War generation kick off in London tomorrow with a recital of iconic Winston Churchill speeches by Hollywood actor Timothy Spall.

Timothy Spall will start the events by reading extracts from Churchill’s iconic VE Day victory speech in 1945. Normandy veteran Alan Kennett, 100, will formally start the procession after being handed the Commonwealth War Graves’ Torch For Peace by Air Cadet Warrant Officer Emmy Jones.

The procession, featuring more than 1,300 members of the Armed Forces and youth groups will march down Whitehall, through Admiralty Arch and up the Mall towards Buckingham Palace where Their Majesties The King and Queen, as well as Members of The Royal Family, the Prime Minister and a number of Second World War veterans will be on a specially built platform on the Queen Victoria Memorial.

A fly past, which Members of the Royal Family will watch from the Balcony at Buckingham Palace, will conclude Monday’s events. From 9pm on Tuesday evening, hundreds of buildings across the country will be lit up to mark VE 80. Buildings include Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London, Canary Wharf’s 1 Canada Square, the Shard, Lowther Castle, Rochester Cathedral, Manchester Printworks, Cardiff Castle, Senedd, Perth Bridge, City Chambers and Belfast City Hall.

On Thursday, a service at Westminster Abbey will begin with a national two-minute silence, which is expected to be replicated across the nation.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:

This 80th anniversary is a moment of national unity. A time to celebrate that hard won peace, honour the memory of those who lost their lives, and remember the sacrifices made by so many to secure our freedom. Their legacy lives on today in how we stand together in defence of the values they fought for and which bind us together as a nation. This week, we come together to salute their service.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said:

80 years ago millions of people celebrated the end of the Second World War in Europe. This week, we will recreate this moment across towns and cities, in our homes, in pubs and on our streets.

We must do all we can to ensure that the stories and memories of this period in our history are not forgotten. We must not forget the hardships, the heroics and the millions who lost their lives.

We are here because of the sacrifices they made and the horrors they endured. This week, I urge the nation to come together and send a powerful message: we will remember them.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Across the four days, official events and services will be taking place across the UK to mark 80 years of the end of the Second World War in Europe including events in the Devolved Nations, including:

Monday 5 May:
- To ensure the commemorations act as a point of remembrance of the millions who lost their lives in the conflict as well as a celebration of peace, the commemorations will begin in Whitehall. The Cenotaph, the nation’s focal point of remembrance, will be dressed in Union Flags for the duration of the four day commemorations, echoing the 1920 unveiling of the monument to the fallen. From Monday 5 May, it will provide a focal point for the commemorations and a place to pay silent tribute to all those who died, both at home and abroad, during the Second World War.
- The VE Day 80 commemorations will continue with a street party on HMS Belfast. HMS Belfast fired some of the opening shots on D Day in 1944 and protected Arctic convoys during the Second World War and is the most significant surviving Second World War warship.
- Street parties, barbecues and community get togethers, supported by ideas and inspiration from The Together Coalition and The Big Lunch, will be held by communities across the country, echoing the celebrations 80 years ago as the population welcomed the end of the war.
Tuesday 6 May:
- An installation of ceramic poppies will return to the Tower of London to mark the anniversary. Nearly 30,000 of the original poppies from the 2014 display at the Tower, which commemorated the centenary of the First World War, will be displayed in a new installation within the walls of the fortress. This poppies installation will resemble a ‘wound’ at the heart of the Tower, which was itself bombed during the Blitz and still bears some of those scars today. It will mark and reflect on the sacrifices made by so many during the Second World War.
- Scotland Salutes VE80 concert will take place at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.
Wednesday 7 May:
- On the evening of 7 May 1945, a newsflash announced that the following day would be Victory in Europe Day. To commemorate this important moment in the nation’s history, the Parliament Choir will host a Victory in Europe Day Anniversary Concert in the famous Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster.
- At a special VE Day event at IWM North, jointly produced by IWM and the National Theatre, some of the letters that the public submit will become part of a performance along with high profile public figures sharing letters from the IWM collection and excerpts from ‘The Next Morning’.
- A National Service of Remembrance will be held at Llandaff Cathedral.
Thursday 8 May:
- A service will take place at Westminster Abbey that will be both an act of shared remembrance and a celebration of the end of the war. It will be a moment to give thanks and to honour a generation that showed extraordinary courage and resilience.
- The events will conclude with a concert at the historic Horseguards Parade to finish the VE Day 80 commemorations in a celebratory tone, echoing how the nation reacted to the news 80 years before. With more than 10,000 members of the public in attendance, the concert will feature stars of stage and screen including John Newman and Dames Joan Collins, Mary Berry, and Sheila Hancock as well as military musicians and tell the story of victory and the legacy of the Second World War in Europe.
Services of remembrance and community celebrations will take place across Northern Ireland throughout the week. The Government has launched Tip Top Towns (https://ve-vjday80.gov.uk/tiptoptowns/), a programme to encourage communities across the country - whether towns, villages or cities - to get together with their communities ahead of 5 May when the nation will come together for street parties to celebrate VE Day. Members of the public are encouraged to get in the VE Day spirit by making their own decorations, planting flowers, encouraging children to draw pictures for their windows or hosting arts and craft sessions.

Full list of buildings being lit up:

London:

Houses of Parliament, London

Elizabeth Tower, London

Buckingham Palace, London

10 Downing Street, London

Battersea Power Station, London

Tower 42 (Natwest Building), London

Millenium Bridge, London

The Shard, London

Tower of London, London

St Paul’s Cathedral, London

London Eye, London

Canary Wharf 1 Canada Square, London

National Theatre, London

British Film Institute, London

The Cenotaph, London

HMS Belfast, London

IWM London, London

BFI IMAX, London

BFI Southbank, London

London Bridge, London

Cannon Street Railway Bridge, London

Southwark Bridge, London

Waterloo Bridge, London

Golden Jubilee Footbridges, London

Westminster Bridge, London

Lambeth Bridge, London

Blackfriars Bridge, London

102 Petty France, London

The National Archives, London

120 Fenchurch Street, London

Twickenham/Aviva Stadium, London

North West England:

IWM North, Salford

Liverpool’s Royal Liver Building, Liverpool

Manchester Printworks, Manchester

The Royal Exchange, Manchester

Lowther Castle, Cumbria

Blackpool seafront & tower, Blackpool

Rivington Pike, Chorley

Chorley Town hall, Chorley

North East England:

Durham Cathedral, Durham

Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Newcastle

Glasshouse International Centre, Newcastle

Municipal Buildings, Middlesborough

Town Hall, Middlesborough

Town Hall Clock Tower, Middlesborough

Central Library, Middlesborough

Bottle of Notes, Middlesborough

St Hilda’s Bell structure, Middlesborough

Zetland Car Park, Middlesborough

The Issac Wilson pub, Middlesborough

Dorman Museum, Middlesborough

South East England:

The Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth

Rochester Cathedral, Rochester

Brighton Royal Pavillion, Brighton

South West England:

Runnymede Air Force Memorial, Surrey

County Hall, Dorset

Aerospace Bristol, Bristol

The Grand Pier, Weston-super-Mare

East England:

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Suffolk

West Midlands:

Birmingham Central Library, Birmingham

Tamworth Castle, Staffordshire

Kings Heath (trees), Birmingham

National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire

East Midlands:

Derwent Dam, Peak District

Scotland:

The Kelpies, Falkirk

The Falkirk Wheel, Falkirk

Perth Bridge, Perth

Hamilton House, Lanarkshire

City Chambers, Edinburgh

St Paul’s Church, Perth

Northern Ireland:

Belfast City Hall, Belfast

Titanic Museum, Belfast

Enniskillen Castle, Enniskillen

Strule Arts Centre, Omagh

Parliament Buildings

Wales:

Welsh Government Building in Cathays Park, Cardiff

Welsh Parliament ( Senedd Cymru) in Cardiff Bay

Cardiff Castle, Cardiff

Castell Coch, Cardiff

Caernarfon Castle, Caernarfon

Channel Islands:

Castle Cornet, Guernsey

Fort Grey, Guernsey

Beau Sejour Leisure, Guernsey

Find out more about the 80th anniversaries of VE Day and VJ Day and ways to get involved at ve-vjday80.gov.uk (https://ve-vjday80.gov.uk/)