Queen to attend Remembrance Sunday service – as charity stresses importance of day being inclusive
The Queen will be attending the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in central London, leading the nation in commemorating those who lost their lives in conflicts.
It will be her Majesty’s first public outing after being advised to rest by doctors for almost a month, following medical checks in hospital.
The remembrance service will look very different to last year, when the event was forced to be scaled back due to the pandemic.
Nearly 10,000 veterans will participate in today’s service alongside hundreds of servicemen and women, with onlookers also present.
Nearly 10,000 veterans will participate in the service
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be among other senior politicians and members of the Royal Family laying a wreath at the Cenotaph.
As has become custom in recent years, Prince Charles will be laying a wreath on behalf of the Queen.
A national two-minute silence will take place at 11am.
Mr Johnson said it’s a moment to “come together to remember those who sacrificed everything in service of our country”.
He added: “It’s a sacred ceremony that has endured for more than a century because we know the unpayable debt we owe those brave servicemen and women.
“We know that for our tomorrow they gave their today.
“And we know that here at home and around the world, thousands of men and women in uniform still stand ready to defend our unity and our way of life, our values, and at a cost few among us would be willing to pay.”
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Millions of people across the UK have stopped to remember those who have died in conflict
Buckingham Palace previously said it was the Queen’s “firm intention” to attend the annual service in Whitehall after she missed several other events, including the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday.
The Royal British Legion, the UK’s largest charity supporting those serving in the armed forces, also celebrates its centenary this year – it said this year’s march will include hundreds of young people from the cadets, guides and scouts.
British Future told Sky News about the importance of making remembrance inclusive for everybody.
The charity launched the Remember Together project, helping students investigate the untold stories of Black and Asian soldiers.
Students from a school in east London have spent the last few months looking into contributions made by those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Wafa Afzali and Saeeda Amidu
Wafa Afzali told Sky News: “It’s really important for us to know about all the people who fought in World War Two, not just the white soldiers, the Black and Asian soldiers they also made a lot of sacrifices, for them to go unnoticed just doesn’t seem right.”
Saeeda Amidu said: “Remembrance should unite us all because many soldiers from all different ethnicities, religions, race, they all contributed to what Britain is now.”
Henry Braimah was a colonel stationed in Burma during World War One
As a result of the project, Saeeda discovered her own great-grandfather, Henry Braimah, was a colonel stationed in Burma during the Great War – a piece of family history that had never been discussed before.
Steve Ballinger, head of communications at British Future, said: “Commemorating our history can be difficult and divisive in Britain, but actually it can also bring people together.
‘Commemorating our history can be difficult’
“It is a difficult and complicated history but we need to engage with it because our history explains why Britain looks like it does today.”
Mr Ballinger added: “The armies that fought for Britain 75 years ago actually looked a lot like Britain does today in terms of its diversity.
“More than 2.5 million soldiers from India, Africa and the Caribbean served side by side in world war two, so they should all be commemorated equally today.”
A judo Olympian has said her family is “devastated” after the discovery of body in the search for her missing brother.
Lubjana Piovesana, 28, appealed for help to find her younger sibling, Luis, 26, on Saturday. He had not been seen since the early hours of Friday morning.
A body was found in the River Frome near Napier Road in Eastville, Bristol, at around 6pm today, Avon and Somerset Police said.
Formal identification is yet to take place, the force added.
In a post on Instagram, Ms Piovesana wrote: “Hello everyone, Luis has been found.
“We are completely devastated but he has passed away.
“I am grateful for everyone’s support. And I am so sorry this happened.
“Luis was my little brother and loved by everyone. I wish he could have seen the love from everyone. He will be remembered by us all.”
The post was signed off with a dove emoji.
Luis Piovesana did not have any money or his mobile phone with him when he went missing, police said. Pics: Avon & Somerset Police
Mr Piovesana was last seen at around 3am on Friday at the Eastgate retail park, which is less than a 10-minute walk away from where the body was found.
He had travelled there by taxi from a venue in Little Ann Street, St Jude’s, a 10-minute drive away.
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The 26-year-old’s family spent the weekend searching for him, and asked people to check their sheds and gardens.
His partner, Laurin Bohler, said loved ones had travelled from Birmingham to help.
Mounted officers and police drones were also involved in the investigation.
Ms Piovesana competed for Team GB before switching to the Austrian team, and defeated British competitor Lucy Renshall in the women’s -63kg judo event at the Paris Olympics last year.
A man has been jailed for life for murdering his son’s girlfriend after she returned home from the school run.
Officers from Dyfed-Powys Police were called to an address on Bigyn Road in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, on 5 July last year.
Sophie Evans, 30, had sustained 72 separate injuries on the outside of the body, “all but three of them new injuries”.
Richard Jones, who is now 50, believed he was “being taken advantage of financially” by Ms Evans and his son, with whom she was in a relationship.
While the purpose of Jones’s visit was “purely normal”, he confronted her on that morning about his suspicions and Ms Evans’s reaction was such that Jones “lost [his] temper”.
He subjected Ms Evans to “gross violence” before ultimately strangling her and leaving the property to run errands, including ordering a new bank card and buying pastries from a bakery.
Richard Jones. Pic: Dyfed-Powys Police
‘Last time on their school run’
During sentencing on Monday, the defendant kept his head bowed for most of the hearing.
He will have to serve at least 20 years behind bars before he can be considered for release by the parole board.
Swansea Crown Court heard Ms Evans was the mother of two young children.
Passing his sentence, Judge Geraint Walters said Ms Evans “had just taken her two children for the last time on their school run” prior to the attack.
“She wasn’t to know that when she parted company with them that morning,” he added.
The court heard the Jones believed he was being defrauded by Ms Evans and his son.
“There is clear evidence, that in the days leading up to this, that you had begun harbouring thoughts that Sophie Evans and your own son were in fact financially scamming you,” he said.
“What precisely brought about that view is difficult to determine.”
Judge Walters said Jones “lost [his] temper when [he] didn’t get the answer that [he] thought [he] deserved”.
He added that, having lost his temper, the defendant “subjected [Ms Evans] to gross violence over a period of time, before you ultimately extinguished her life by strangulation”.
The court was told in evidence that at the time of the attack, Ms Evans was wearing only a bath towel.
‘The rock of our family’
In a victim personal statement, Ms Evans’s sister Kerry Quinlan told the court she was “the rock of our family”.
She said Ms Evans was taken from them in a “senseless and cruel act”.
“Words cannot express fully how much of a loss this has been to her children,” she added.
“When they cry themselves to sleep wanting their mum, she isn’t there and never will be.”
Ms Quinlan added that Jones had “taken everything from us, all in the most despicable way possible”.
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Ms Evans’s partner at the time, and the defendant’s son, Jamie Davies, said in a victim personal statement, read on his behalf, that they had both “trusted” Jones, and that Ms Evans had even been planning the defendant’s 50th birthday.
“The thought of having to live my life without Sophie causes me extreme pain and heartache,” he added.
Prosecuting, Michael Jones KC said the offence was aggravated by the defendant’s previous convictions and the fact Ms Evans was murdered in her home.
In mitigation, David Elias KC said there was a “lack of premeditation”.
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