Queen Elizabeth's History with Remembrance Day, as Royals Prepare to Mark Occasion Without Her
Fox Photos/Getty Princess Elizabeth in 1945
The British royal family is preparing to mark Remembrance Day for the first time since Queen Elizabeth's death.
Over the weekend, King Charles and Queen Camilla will lead the royals in honoring all those who lost their lives in wars. On Saturday, the royal family will attend the Festival of Remembrance at Royal Albert Hall, and they'll gather again on Sunday at the Cenotaph war memorial for the poignant National Service of Remembrance.
Remembrance Day was an important event for Queen Elizabeth, going back to before she was the monarch. As Princess Elizabeth, she dressed in uniform as she laid a wreath at the Cenotaph for the first time on November 11, 1945, the first Remembrance Sunday following World War II.
Queen Elizabeth missed the moving ceremony just a handful of times during her historic 70-year reign. She first skipped the Remembrance Day service in 1959, when she was pregnant with her third child, Prince Andrew. She was also absent from the event in 1963 due to her pregnancy with her youngest child, Prince Edward.
Her four other absences were due to overseas visits: Ghana in 1961, Brazil in 1968, Kenya in 1983 and South Africa in 1999.
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Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Queen Elizabeth
Last year, Queen Elizabeth was determined to appear at the Remembrance Day service despite a hospitalization the previous month. However, Buckingham Palace announced the morning of the event that she had to miss it due to a sprained back.
"The Queen, having sprained her back, has decided this morning with great regret that she will not be able to attend today's Remembrance Sunday Service at the Cenotaph," the palace said in a statement. "Her Majesty is disappointed that she will miss the service."
The Queen was said by a royal source to be "deeply disappointed," as she regards the ceremony as "one of the most significant engagements of the year."
"Nobody regrets the Queen's absence today more deeply than Her Majesty," the source added.
Chris Jackson/Getty Queen Elizabeth and Kate Middleton
The royal family has played a central role in the commemorations since Queen Elizabeth's grandfather, King George V, laid the Unknown Warrior to rest in Westminster Abbey on November 11, 1920. He unveiled The Cenotaph war memorial in nearby Whitehall later the same day.
The royals are "completely embedded," in the annual rituals honoring those who died in conflicts, A Century of Remembrance author Laura Clouting previously told PEOPLE.
"The royal family is showing gratitude for the loss of life basically occurring in their name — certainly in the name of the Sovereign as the head of state," noted Clouting, referencing the British military oath. "Remembrance is very, very personal for them."
Samir Hussein/WireImage Camilla, Queen Elizabeth and Kate Middleton in 2018
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The Royal British Legion remembered Queen Elizabeth ahead of this weekend's events on Twitter.
The Queen was committed to honouring the service and sacrifice of the entire Armed Forces community, most notably at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph where she would lay a wreath that featured around 90 poppies. 2/5 pic.twitter.com/5mWS9vnNPL
— Royal British Legion (@PoppyLegion) November 11, 2022
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"As we come together as a nation on Sunday we will pay tribute to Her late Majesty's unwavering sense of duty, and her devotion to a lifetime of service," they wrote on Friday. "Her enduring dedication to the Armed Forces will be deeply missed and never forgotten."
