King Charles leads UK's Remembrance ceremony at Cenotaph in London

Princess Kate attends service, as she gradually returns to public duties following treatment for cancer

King Charles during the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in London. PA

Britain's King Charles III has led his country's Remembrance ceremony commemorating those who lost their lives in the two world wars and other conflicts. Tens of thousands of veterans and civilians gathered at the Cenotaph on Whitehall in central London to pay their respects to the fallen.

The king was joined by other members of the royal family and senior politicians for the Remembrance Sunday event, which takes place annually on the closest Sunday to Armistice Day, the anniversary of the day the First World War ended on November 11, 1918.

King Charles, dressed in the Royal Navy uniform of the Admiral of the Fleet, laid the first wreath of the ceremony at the foot of the Cenotaph. Queen Camilla was represented by her equerry, Maj Ollie Plunket, because she is recovering from a chest infection.

Prince William, Prince Edward and Princess Anne laid wreaths, followed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the country's other political leaders. As the newly elected head of Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, laid a Remembrance wreath for the first time.

Kate, the Princess of Wales, watched from the central balcony of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It was the second time since the start of the year that the princess, who is recovering from cancer, carried out two consecutive days of public engagements. She attended the Royal British Legion Festival Of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Saturday evening.

Dressed in the traditional black, the Princess of Wales wore a netted hat with her hair in a twisted chignon, and a military-style coat featuring black epaulettes and embellished at the neck with a black velvet bow. Her diamond and pearl drop earrings once belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth II. As the Colonel-in-Chief of the Queen's Dragoon Guards, the princess also wore her silver regimental brooch, beneath three red poppies.

Thousands of veterans marched past the Cenotaph as the event was broadcast on huge screens in Trafalgar Square at the north end of Whitehall. The Remembrance ceremony was preceded by a two-minute silence, observed at war memorials in villages, towns and cities across Britain.