HRH The Duchess of Cornwall opens 92nd Field of Remembrance

Wednesday, 4th November 2020

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall opened the 92nd Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday 4th November 2020.

Her Royal Highness was greeted at the Field of Remembrance, on the Abbey's north green, by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, and by the Rector of St Margaret’s Church, the Reverend Anthony Ball.

Prayers were led by the Dean, who said: ‘For the 92^nd time at the Field of Remembrance we meet again to remember those who gave their lives in the conflicts of our time, that we might enjoy freedom and peace.

‘At the 11^th hour, of the 11^th day, of the 11^th month of 1918, the First World War ended: that date, that time, have become a symbolic moment on which to pause in silent remembrance and gratitude. With full hearts at this, our Field of Remembrance, let us pray for the peace of the whole world.’

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall tours the Field of Remembrance

Some of the 60,000 remembrance tributes

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall signs the Distinguished Visitors' Book

Surgeon Rear Admiral Lionel Jarvis, President of the Poppy Factory, invited The Duchess of Cornwall to lay a cross of remembrance in front of two wooden crosses from the Graves of Unknown British Soldiers from the First and Second World Wars.

Last Post was sounded from the parapet of St Margaret's Church by Sergeant Scott Walker of the Irish Guards.

The Duchess toured the plots on the Field and signed the St. Margaret’s Church visitors’ book before leaving the Abbey precincts.

The latest Covid-19 lockdown means that for the first time since the Poppy Factory first laid out a Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey in 1928 it will not be available for public visiting. However, an online gallery of the 308 individual plots laid out with more than 60,000 Remembrance crosses and symbols of all faiths and none is available on the Poppy Factory’s website.