King Leads the VE Day Service with Call for a 'Just Peace'

King Charles called for a renewal of "global commitments to restoring a just peace where there is war, to diplomacy, and to the prevention of conflict", as the UK marked the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe day.

- Caroline Davies

Westminster Abbey was the focal point for national commemorations, with a service of thanksgiving weaving poignant reminders of wartime deprivation and loss with the hopes for the future that the historic day had promised.

Senior royalty, politicians and military joined 78 second world war veterans as the king led a two-minute silence at the start of the service.

Across the UK people stood in remembrance on a day when ceremonies were held throughout Europe.

Later, speaking exactly 80 years after his grandfather George VI's 9pm address to the nation, Charles said the debt to those "whose firm resolve and fortitude helped destroy Nazism and carry our allied nations through to VE Day" could "never truly be repaid".

Addressing the VE 80 concert in Horse Guards Parade, which brought four days of commemorations to a close, he said that as the second world war generation "sadly dwindles" there was a duty "to carry their stories forward, to ensure their experiences are never to be forgotten".