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HRH The Duke of Edinburgh attends Last Post Ceremony in Ypres

The ceremony marked the gathering of soil from Belgium for a Flanders Fields memorial garden at the Guards Museum in London.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

On 11th November 2013 His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, Senior Colonel, Household Division and Colonel, Grenadier Guards, attended a Last Post ceremony in Ypres, Belgium, to mark the gathering of soil from Belgium for a Flanders Fields memorial garden at the Guards Museum in London.

His Royal Highness  arrived at the Menin Gate with His Royal Highness Prince Laurent of Belgium where they were met by, amongst others, the Minister-President of Flanders Kris Peeters, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and the Last Post Association.  The Band of the Coldstream Guards also performed a Royal Salute on arrival.

Beneath the Menin Gate, the ‘Last Post’ sounded just like every day, followed by a one minute silence after which His Royal Highness laid a poppy wreath. Schoolchildren from the UK and Belgium  then carried sandbags with earth from First World War cemeteries in Belgium to a gun carriage of the Royal Horse Artillery.

Their Royal Highnesses also met with these schoolchildren before moving to Ypres Town Hall for a reception after which he signed the Golden Book of the Last Post Association.

For pictures of this event, please have a look at our photo album on Facebook.

Published 12 November 2013