VE Day – live: Royals attend 80th anniversary as bishop warns ‘good is under threat’

As well as street parties and church services, huge crowds gathered outside Buckingham Palace, cheering on as King George VI and his family, including the then-19-year-old future Queen Elizabeth II, came out onto the balcony and waved.

Elizabeth and her younger sister Princess Margaret would later go out and celebrate with the crowds in secret. Having served as a driver and mechanic during the war for the Auxillary Transport Service, the future queen wore her uniform to blend into the crowds. The sisters would later go and dance at The Ritz hotel in celebration.

The late Queen reflected on her VE Day celebrations in a rare BBC interview in 1985, where she said: “My sister and I realised that we couldn’t see what the crowds were enjoying so we asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves.

“I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief.”

St Paul’s Cathedral was dramatically illuminated on the evening of VE Day following a midday service with the mayor of London in attendance.

Every year to this day, 8 May has marked a symbolic day where we continue to remember those who fought and were affected by the Second World War. It has also become a day to celebrate peace and reflect on the hardships of war.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has said that VE Day – and the Allied victory – marks “one of our finest hours” as a country. He said: “Today we come together to celebrate those who fought for our freedom.”

Philip Jarman is a 101-year-old Second World War veteran, but he has little truck with the “celebratory” clamour that accompanies our numerous wartime anniversaries: the bunting, the obligatory fly past, the royal gloss.

Eighty years ago, he was still fighting a brutal war in Burma, and his reticence goes beyond mere end dates.

“We’ve got war all wrong,” he insists, disconsolately chasing crumbs around his plate. “After 1945, we didn’t have these repeated celebrations. We got on with building back Britain. In the years following VE Day, we were in no mood to celebrate.”

Eighty years on from VE Day, has commemoration had been sidestepped for celebration on an epic scale?

The King has led the nation in honouring the sacrifices of those who brought peace to Europe 80 years ago, as a service marking VE Day began.

A national two minutes silence was observed before the simple ceremony, which began with Charles and Prince William leaving a floral tribute at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior.

The congregation heard wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill’s radio broadcast announcing the end of hostilities, and letters from WWII servicemen and women.

Second World War artefacts including a child’s gas mask, sailor’s cap and an air raid warden’s helmet, representing the armed forces and the Home Front, were processed through the abbey.

The Archbishop of York, Steven Cottrell, also called for peace in the world as he said: “All is good is under threat again in our world today.”

Sir Keir Starmer also read a bible verse, before the great-great grandson of Sir Winston Churchill lit a candle for peace.

At the end of the service, tune of We’ll Meet Again made famous by forces sweetheart the late Dame Vera Lynn was played as the royal family greeted veterans as they left the abbey.

MPs and peers “followed in the footsteps” of their predecessors by forming a procession to Westminster Abbey to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer moved a motion to suspend the House of Commons sitting on Thursday, telling Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle: “So we may attend Westminster Abbey to give thanks and commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the greatest victory in the history of our great nation.”

Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: “We will now follow in the footsteps of our predecessors 80 years ago.

“On May 8 1945, honourable members formed a procession out of the House of Lords, where they secretly relocated because the House of Commons chamber had been destroyed during the Blitz.

“Today we shall again follow the mace but this time from our own chamber through the bomb-scarred Churchill arch, which stands as a permanent reminder of the fortitude of those who stood firm through the war.”

The Princess of Wales left a posy of colourful flowers at the large circular slate Innocent Victims’ Memorial outside the abbey on departure, as did the Queen.

The blooms were picked on Wednesday within the walls of Windsor Castle and the surrounding estate.

They included rosemary for remembrance, oak for endurance and bluebells which traditionally represent gratitude.