The Royal British Legion marked its 90th anniversary by honouring Britain’s war dead as a new portrait of the Queen was unveiled to commemorate the milestone.
A service of thanksgiving was held at Westminster Abbey to recognise the charity’s efforts providing support and welfare for thousands of veterans and their familie,s since it was established in 1921.
In his address, the Rev. Nigel McCulloch, the Bishop of Manchester and the Legion’s National Chaplain, paid tribute to the charity, famous for its poppy appeals every autumn.
He said: “The truth is when you put on a poppy, that symbolises hope. The money it raises makes possible the Legion’s restoring of hope to the battered and bereft.
“And as a sign of keeping faith with the dead and remembering what they hoped for, it points a younger generation to the hope of a better future and a never-ending quest for things that are honourable, just and pure.”
The Queen is patron of the Legion and artist Darren Baker, who produces photo-realistic work, was commissioned to paint her portrait.
The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, who is president of the Legion’s women’s section, unveiled the painting in front of the charity’s supporters at Church House in central London.
Mr Baker, 35, from Huddersfield, Yorkshire, said: “I was honoured and humbled to be given the commission. I didn’t think I would ever be in a position to paint the Queen.”
The picture shows the monarch seated near a large window in Buckingham Palace’s yellow drawing room and features a number of symbolic details.
The Queen’s wristwatch is set to 11 a.m., the time on Remembrance Day when a minute’s silence is held, and she also wears a spray of five poppies. During the service attended by the Princess Royal, and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Kirianne Curley, whose Royal Marine husband Corporal Stephen Curley was killed in Afghanistan, had the solemn task of carrying the Book of Remembrance along the nave to the high altar. Cpl Curley died in an explosion caused by an improvised device while on foot patrol in Afghanistan in May last year.
His name is included with thousands of others in the Book of Remembrance that honours the country’s military dead.
Ms Curley is using the Legion’s independent inquest advice service to help her through the inquest into her husband’s death.
She said: “My husband Stephen was 26-years-old when he was killed and our son, William, was just a few weeks old. I am forever grateful for the all the support the Legion has given to me and my family. Carrying the book of Remembrance is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a memory that I will treasure and will share with our son in the future.”