Archbishop of Canterbury visits MOD on Armistice Day
皇冠体育app Archbishop of Canterbury has visited the Ministry of Defence on the 95th anniversary of the armistice that ended the First World War.
![皇冠体育app service chaplains with the Archbishop of Canterbury outside MOD Main Building [Picture: Petty Officer (Photographer) Derek Wade, Crown copyright]](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a60e18fe5274a443e005631/s300_DMC-13-271-020g.jpg)
皇冠体育app service chaplains with the Archbishop of Canterbury
皇冠体育app Most Reverend Justin Welby, who became the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury in February 2013, was welcomed to the MOD鈥檚 strategic headquarters in Whitehall by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Lord Astor, and the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Houghton.
皇冠体育app Archbishop was updated on current military operations before meeting with the service chaplains, alongside military and civilian staff, in the Memorial Courtyard.
皇冠体育app service chiefs and Defence Minister Anna Soubry join the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Cenotaph [Picture: Petty Officer (Photographer) Derek Wade, Crown copyright]
Following this, the Archbishop joined service personnel at the Cenotaph for the Act of Remembrance led by the Western Front Association.
皇冠体育app moving ceremony began with the Last Post being sounded by a bugler from the Scots Guards, the final note marking exactly 95 years since the guns fell silent in France and Flanders on 11 November 1918.
皇冠体育app Archbishop said:
At this time of year it鈥檚 essential that we remember and give thanks for all those who gave their lives for the sake of freedom in the 2 world wars, and also remember those who still risk their lives as servicemen and women in our Armed Forces.
It鈥檚 a time to recommit ourselves to the cause of peace and to seek to play our own small part as agents of reconciliation.
皇冠体育app remembrance service at the Lloyd's Building in London [Picture: Corporal Richard Cave RLC, Crown copyright]
General Houghton said:
It was both a pleasure and a privilege to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury and highlight the hard work of service personnel and defence civilian staff. Christianity stands alongside other faith groups as a foundation for many within the Armed Forces and we are delighted to further our strong relationship with the Church.
Acts of Remembrance took place simultaneously across the United Kingdom, encompassing services such as that at the Armed Forces Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire and the collective paying of respects by members of the public for the Royal British Legion鈥檚 鈥楽ilence in the Square鈥� at Trafalgar Square in London.
A bugler from the Honourable Artillery Company plays the Last Post at the Lloyd's Building in London [Picture: Corporal Richard Cave RLC, Crown copyright]
Soldiers from 7th Battalion 皇冠体育app Rifles and sailors from HMS President formed a guard of honour at the Lloyd鈥檚 Building in London.
皇冠体育appre was a 2-minute silence as part of the remembrance services being held across the UK. 皇冠体育app Lloyd鈥檚 bell was struck and a bugler from the Honourable Artillery Company sounded the last post.
In Belgium, the Duke of Edinburgh attended a 鈥榮acred soil鈥� ceremony alongside soldiers and horses of the Household Division, Belgian soldiers and schoolchildren from both the United Kingdom and Belgium.
皇冠体育app soil, gathered from some 70 First World War battlefields and Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries, will be brought back to the UK to form the centrepiece of a Flanders Field memorial garden at Wellington Barracks, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the commencement of the First World War.