Parade through central London starts UK celebration in lead up to 80th anniversary of VE Day

by Mick the Ram

The first of four days of celebrations have been taking place in the UK in the lead up to the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day on 8 May.

When Winston Churchill took to the airwaves from Downing Street to announce that war in Europe had ended back in 1945, jubilant scenes were witnessed across the nation at the end of almost six years of fighting. 

Actor Timothy Spall read a recitation of Churchill’s famous broadcasted speech of that day to start the proceedings before King Charles III and other royals took their seats in front of Buckingham Palace, which was central to celebrations 80 years ago, as they and the thousands in the crowd were treated to a military procession.  

The Red Arrows created a spectacular finale as they flew over the Palace, although it became the first time that no members of the Royal Family who were on the balcony in 1945 were present at a VE Day anniversary celebration.

Later in the afternoon the King and Queen hosted a tea party for around 50 veterans and their families, whilst at the same time Sir Keir Starmer did similar outside Downing Street. 

Precision procession 

Many of Britain’s few remaining World War Two veterans were in attendance when the “Torch for Peace”, organised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, was presented to one of them,  ex RAF man Alan Kennett – who will turn 101 at the end of May – who then gave permission for the procession to start at Parliament Square.

Mounted soldiers led the way up Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square, followed by an impeccable military procession of more than 1,300 members of the UK armed forces, as well as Nato allies and servicemen and servicewoman of Ukraine carrying the blue and yellow colours of their flag who had a special invite as a show of solidarity. 

Gathered before the balcony

His Majesty the King stood and saluted each and everyone of those who passed before him, as the parade reached the Queen Victoria Memorial.

The huge crowds who had gathered either side of the Mall were then allowed to walk down towards Buckingham Palace to stand before the famous balcony – the very same balcony that the late Queen Elizabeth II had looked up to as a young woman on VE Day 1945, as she celebrated along with the masses.

Red Arrows provide the perfect finale

Everyone’s gaze was then drawn skyward as an iconic Lancaster Bomber began the flypast, followed by five extra waves of military jets, before the Red Arrows provided the perfect finale with their red white and blue vapour trails. 

Gun salute

HMS Belfast also marked the day with an impressive gun salute as one after the other, a six inch, four inch and anti-aircraft WW2 cannons were fired, albeit without the real shells.

These were the very same guns that were central in fighting German soldiers along the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

Educating the generations

The King and Queen then played hosts to a tea party at the Palace where it was touching to see the children of the Prince and Princess of Wales – George, Charlotte and Louis – speaking with the veterans and taking a genuine interest in their remarkable stories.

Around the same time and just a short distance away, the prime minister laid on a street party of his own outside number ten Downing Street, where he himself played the waiter with plates of cakes for his guests. 

Tribute from the PM

The PM praised the veterans for their “selfless dedication” and said their victory was not just for Britain, but it was also “a victory for good against the assembled forces of hatred, tyranny and evil.” 

Sir Keir added that VE Day was a chance to acknowledge that “our debt to those who achieved it can never fully be repaid,” before adding: “It is not just that you kept us all safe; it is also that you represent the best of who we are.

“A living link of service that unites the values we must stand for in the present, with the stories we must pass down from our past.”