A dozen veterans, a record nine ex-premiers

The gap between the two groups has narrowed to the point where this year's gathering may be the final one in which the second world war veterans outnumber the former prime ministers. The surviving service personnel in attendance had dwindled from 20 at the previous year's ceremony to about a dozen.

The oldest veteran present was Jeffrey Brereton, who served in the RAF. He volunteered for the air force in 1940 at the age of 19 and worked as a mechanic on Hurricane aircraft during the Battle of Britain.

Nine former prime ministers on parade

The ranks of ex-premiers were swollen to a record nine, all of whom attended, as Andy Burnham took part in the ceremony for the first time. Among them were John Major, 83, the oldest living former prime minister, Keir Starmer, the most recent ex-premier, and Liz Truss, the shortest-serving.

• •Burnham's wife, Marie-France van Heel, watched from a balcony overlooking Whitehall alongside spouses including Victoria Starmer, Hugh O'Leary, Philip May, Sarah Brown and Akshata Murty.
• •Reform UK leader Nigel Farage laid a wreath for the first time, his party having passed the six-seat threshold for participation through defections from the Conservatives that gave it eight MPs over the last year.
• •Kemi Badenoch, Ed Davey, Shabana Mahmood and Lindsay Hoyle were among the other politicians laying wreaths.
• •Green party leader Zack Polanski attended with a white peace poppy pinned to his lapel alongside a traditional red one.

The King leads the silence

King Charles laid the first wreath, dressed in a field marshal's uniform, and was joined by his son William in the black uniform of a Household Cavalry lieutenant colonel.

Minutes before the ceremony began, a soldier in the Whitehall parade fainted and was taken away on a stretcher. Charles then led the two-minute silence, which was broken only by a crying baby in Whitehall, before a gun fired to end it and Royal Marines buglers sounded the Last Post.

March-past and services across the nations

After the service, about 10,000 veterans took part in a march-past representing more than 300 different armed forces and civilian organisations. The youngest participant was eight-year-old Ronan Doncaster, who walked in honour of his father, a guardsman with the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards who died in April 2024.

Elsewhere in the nations:

• •The taoiseach, Micheál Martin, and Northern Ireland secretary Chris Bryant attended a memorial service in Enniskillen, which was targeted by an IRA bomb in 1987 that killed 11 people that day and a 12th victim years later.
• •In Edinburgh, first minister John Swinney led tributes outside the City Chambers, with a parade down the Royal Mile from Edinburgh Castle led by the RAF Central Scotland Pipes and Drums.
• •A service in Glasgow's George Square brought together veterans, faith leaders and armed forces representatives for a silence at 11am followed by a wreath-laying ceremony.
• •In Cardiff, first minister Rhun ap Iorwerth became the first leader of Plaid Cymru to lead a wreath-laying at a Remembrance Day service.

With attendance of second world war service personnel down to about a dozen and former prime ministers present in record numbers, next year's Cenotaph gathering may be the first at which the ex-premiers outnumber the veterans.