King salutes military procession as VE Day commemorations begin to mark the 80th anniversary of Allied victory
4 May 2025, 23:27 | Updated: 5 May 2025, 15:54
The annual VE Day commemorations have begun in London, as the UK comes together to mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War Two.
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The events on bank holiday Monday marks the beginning of four days of celebration across the nation up until Thursday May 8, exactly eight decades years since Victory in Europe was declared.
The King is to play a central role in the commemorations, appearing on a platform on the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace alongside the Queen, WW2 veterans and the Prime Minister.
Later, the royal family will watch the fly past from the balcony at Buckingham Palace.
Normandy veteran Alan Kennett, 100, will formally start the procession after being handed the Commonwealth War Graves' Torch For Peace by air cadet Warrant Officer Emmy Jones.
Read more: VE Day RAF flypast route - when and where to watch
The procession will see more than 1,300 members of the Armed Forces and youth groups march down Whitehall, through Admiralty Arch and up The Mall towards Buckingham Palace.
Representatives of the Ukrainian military, selected from the UK armed forces' training programme for Ukrainian recruits Operation Interflex, will also take part.
Actor Timothy Spall will open the celebrations in London on Monday when he recites some of Winston Churchill's victory speech from 1945.
The 68-year-old, whose roles include playing Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter film series, will read extracts from the speech in which Churchill told Britons: "This is not victory of a party or of any class.
"It's a victory of the great British nation as a whole."
From 9pm on Tuesday, hundreds of buildings across the country will be lit up to mark the big day, including the Palace of Westminster, the Shard, Lowther Castle in Penrith, Manchester Printworks, Cardiff Castle and Belfast City Hall.
A moment of national unity
On Thursday, a service at Westminster Abbey will begin with a national two-minute silence.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: "This 80th anniversary is a moment of national unity.
"A time to celebrate that hard won peace, honour the memory of those who lost their lives, and remember the sacrifices made by so many to secure our freedom.
"Their legacy lives on today in how we stand together in defence of the values they fought for and which bind us together as a nation.
RAF veteran will remember friends ‘who didn’t make it’ on VE Day
"This week, we come together to salute their service."
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: "Eighty years ago millions of people celebrated the end of the Second World War in Europe.
"This week, we will recreate this moment across towns and cities, in our homes, in pubs and on our streets.
"We must do all we can to ensure that the stories and memories of this period in our history are not forgotten.
"We must not forget the hardships, the heroics and the millions who lost their lives.
"We are here because of the sacrifices they made and the horrors they endured.
"This week, I urge the nation to come together and send a powerful message: we will remember them."
Everything you need to know about the RAF flypast
The full flypast will begin at 1.45pm and see 23 aircraft, including the iconic Red Arrows and the Lancaster Bomber from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight as they put on a spectacular show over the city.
It will also include a Voyager transport aircraft, a P8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft, Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets.
The planes are due to go over parts of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Buckinghamshire, Cheshire and Oxfordshire.
The flypast route has been split into different zones, each with a time slot when airspace is restricted. The zones show the period of time when the planes are expected to be overhead:
Area A: North Sea, Suffolk and Norfolk, between 10.45am - 1.45pm
Area B: East Suffolk (Saxmundham) and Suffolk (East Bergholt), between 12.15pm - 1.10pm
Area C: Suffolk (East Bergholt) and Essex (Colchester), between 12.20pm - 1.10pm
Area D: Essex (Colchester and Witham), between 12.20pm - 1.10pm
Area E: Essex (Witham) and London City, between 12.25pm - 1.10pm
Area F: London City and London Heathrow, between 12.25pm - 1.10pm
Area G: Buckinghamshire (Denham) and Cheshire (Halton), between 12.45pm - 1.25pm
Area H: Cheshire (Halton) and Oxfordshire (Brize), between 12.45pm - 1.25pm
Area I: North west London, between 12.45pm - 1.25pm
Wing Commander Andrew Watson, Flypast Mission Commander, said: “We are very proud to be able to show the nation and His Majesty The King, our Commander-in-Chief, on this historic occasion, our capability and present that as a fitting and appropriate tribute for the millions of people who served in the Second World War.
"It should be a good spectacle for the nation and the Commonwealth."
VE Day 80 street parties, picnics and community get togethers are being encouraged to take place across the country as part of the Great British Food Festival, led by the Together Coalition and the Big Lunch in partnership with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
