Princess of Wales lays wreath at Cenotaph for Anzac Day tribute

Catherine, Princess of Wales, laid a wreath at the Cenotaph in central London on Anzac Day and later attended a service of commemoration and thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, a public show of respect aimed squarely at Britain’s ties with Australia and New Zealand. The wreath, signed by Catherine and Prince William, carried the message: “In memory of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.”

The tribute landed on April 25, the annual Anzac Day observance that commemorates Australians and New Zealanders who died in conflict and marks the 1915 landing of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps troops at Gallipoli in north-west Turkey during the First World War. The Royal Family’s official account marked the day with its own message, “Lest we forget,” reinforcing the sense that the monarchy still sees the remembrance as part of its public role across the Commonwealth.

Princess Anne also took part in London’s commemorations, attending a dawn service earlier that morning at Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner. The sequence of ceremonies gave the day a distinctly royal cast in the capital, with the Cenotaph and Westminster Abbey anchoring Britain’s commemoration of a military campaign that became a foundational memory for Australia and New Zealand.

The symbolism carries diplomatic weight. London Anzac Day services have been held since 1916, when King George V attended the first Westminster Abbey service to mark the Gallipoli landings. More than a century later, the royal family’s presence continues to project continuity with two of Britain’s closest Commonwealth partners at a time when the monarchy is working to maintain relevance abroad through visible acts of remembrance rather than political rhetoric.

Commemorations also took place in Australia, New Zealand, Turkey and at Villers-Bretonneux in France, underlining how the day now spans the former battlefields and the nations that still carry the memory of them. In Australia, some ceremonies were disrupted by booing during Welcome to Country addresses, drawing criticism and applause from different attendees and highlighting how contested public rituals can become. Against that backdrop, Catherine’s carefully staged wreath-laying was a reminder that ceremonial gestures still matter as instruments of soft power, especially when directed toward allies whose wartime memory remains central to their national identity.