Kate Shines in Same White Dress She Wore to Charlotte's Baptism as She and Wills Join Belgium's Queen Mathilde at the Menin Gate to Mark The Centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele
- The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined Belgian royals to mark 100 years since Battle of Passchendaele
- Prince Charles and Theresa May also marking centenary of battle between Allied Troops and German forces
- Prince William gave a speech at the Menin Gate monument in Ypres, Belgium, as the daily Last Post played
Daily Mail UK, 31 July 2017
The Duke of Cambridge last night led official commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele.
William spoke at the Menin Gate monument in Ypres, Belgium, as the daily Last Post was played ahead of today's centenary of the start of the bloody First World War British assault.
Flanked by the Duchess of Cambridge and Philippe and Mathilde, the King and Queen of the Belgians, he said Britain and Belgium 'stand together' to remember those killed during weeks of heavy fighting in the summer and autumn of 1917.
From left: Theresa May, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, King Philippe (third right) and Queen Mathilde (second right) watch as the poppies fall from the roof of the Menin Gate
The British and Belgian royals chatted animatedly as they left the ceremony marking the centenary of the bloody battle
William arrived looking smart in a royal blue suit, poppy and medals, with Kate looking resplendent in an ivory coat dress with matching hat and grey suede court shoes
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined the Belgian Royal family to mark 100 years since Battle of Passchendaele
Theresa May, who is currently enjoying a three week holiday, arrived at Menin Gate for the 100th Anniversary
The King and Queen of the Belgians, Philippe of Belgium and Queen Mathilde, arriving at the commemoration service
Watched by some 200 descendants of those who fought, he said:
'Today, the Menin Gate records almost 54,000 names of the men who did not return home; the missing with no known grave.
'Members of our families; our regiments; our nations; all sacrificed everything for the lives we live today.'
He added: 'During the First World War Britain and Belgium stood shoulder to shoulder. One hundred years on, we still stand together, gathering as so many do every night, in remembrance of that sacrifice.'
The Duchess of Cambridge arrived wearing a white Alexander McQueen coat-dress, and wore a white hat by Lock & Co with her hair in a chignon bun.
She accessorised with a pair of grey pumps and matching clutch bag, finishing the look with pearl earrings and a pearl brooch.
She first debuted the McQueen coat-dress at Princess Charlotte's christening, while the Lock & Co hat is a reprisal from her Trooping the Colour appearance in 2015. The Duchess wore a similar outfit whe she met the Belgian King and Queen in 2014.
The Duchess of Cambridge arrived wearing a white Alexander McQueen coat-dress - which she first debuted at Princess Charlotte's christening in 2015
People were treated to the stunning sight of Cloth Hall in Ypres lit up during the evening performances
Testimony from Allied and German soldiers was also projected onto the side of the imposing Cloth Hall
At a performance in the Market Square of Ypres, Dame Helen Mirren gave a poignant reading
Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon arrived at Market Square in Ypres for the Cloth Hall Light Show
Theresa May with Queen Mathilde of Belgium in Cloth Hall for the event which told the story of the four years of war on the Salient
The Duchess of Cambridge and Queen Mathilde were talking animatedly as they left the Last Post ceremony
(First row, from left) Queen Mathilde of Belgium and King Philippe of Belgium arrive at the Last Post ceremony
William said Britain and Belgium 'stand together' to remember those killed during weeks of heavy fighting in the summer and autumn of 1917
The Duchess of Cambridge arrived wearing a white Alexander McQueen coat-dress, and wore a white hat by Locke with her hair in a chignon bun.
A sombrely dressed Prime Minister Theresa May went to Belgium to start the two-day commemoration of the brutal battle
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge pictured with Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence (right)
Some four thousand people listened to Sunday's poignant Last Post, the 30,752nd time it has been played since 1928
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Prince of Wales, Prime Minister Theresa May and Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon are to attend events in and around Ypres to commemorate the centenary of the 1917 battle
The Prime Minister wore a speckled blue blazer, a feathered hat and a dash of makeup, her skin appeared to glow. She returns from her holidays on 14 August
Prince William and King Philippe: The Royals also later attended a performance in the Market Square of Ypres – with readings from stars including Dame Helen Mirren and War Horse author Michael Morpurgo.
Kate stood between William and a more somberly dressed Prime Minister Theresa May.
They watched as thousands of paper poppy petals, one for every name on the Menin Gate, fluttered to earth from the roof above the gathered crowd.
They included some 200 descendants of those who fought at Passchendaele.
Four thousand people were chosen by a ballot to attend events in Ypres on Sunday and the larger event centres on nearby Tyne Cot military cemetery on Monday.
Sunday's poignant Last Post was the 30,752nd time it has been played since 1928.
The towering Menin Gate in the Belgian town is covered with the names of 54,391 British dead who have no known grave, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
In just over three months of conflict there were more than half a million casualties - 325,000 Allied soldiers and 260,000 to 400,000 Germans - in the Belgian battlefields.
It was fought between July 31 and November 10 1917 in battlefields that were summed up in poet Siegfried Sassoon's line;
'I died in hell, they called it Passchendaele'.
Those who fought there included Harry Patch, the 'Last Tommy' who died aged 111 in 2009.
The Duke - wearing a poppy and his medals - told the crowd: ‘With the sounding of this bugle call, the two hundred and fifty thousand British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed on the Ypres Salient during the First World War are remembered'
A short walk away from Menin Gate, Ypres' medieval Cloth Hall, which was rebuilt from ruins after the war, was illuminated
In all, 325,000 Allied soldiers and 260,000 Germans were killed or wounded in the battle, officially known as the Third Battle of Ypres, in the West Flanders region of northern Belgium in 1917
Performances and music were set to a backdrop of incredible light projections on the grand Cloth Hall
The silhouettes of soldiers were beamed on to the hall, in remembrance of some 325,000 Allied troops who were killed
As events centred around the hall, there was quiet contemplation from the thousands who had gathered to pay tribute
The battle, fought near Ypres between July 31 and November 10, 1917, saw 325,000 Allied soldiers and 260,000 Germans killed or wounded
Later in the evening there was an outdoor performance telling the story of four years of war and the lives lost in battle
The royals and Mrs May later attended a brief reception at Ypres Cloth Hall, meeting relatives of those killed in the battle.
The duchess spoke to Scottish singer-songwriter Davy Holt, who found out 10 years ago that his great uncle John Kimm is remembered on the Menin Gate.
Mr Holt, from Inverness, who wrote a song about his relative called Hero Of Your Time, said:
'She asked me what his story had done for me.
'I couldn't really understand why my family has spent 90 years not talking about it.
'I decided I would talk about it, and do so by writing a song.'
The evening rounded off with performances in Ypres's Grote Markt square, which features Dame Helen Mirren and journalist Ian Hislop, who introduced a sketch from his First World War play The Wipers Times.
Testimony from Allied and German soldiers was also projected onto the side of the imposing Cloth Hall.
The wreath placed by Prince William at the Menin Gate, in which he paid tribute to those who fought for their country
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