14th November 2018
Vientiane, Laos
Fellow Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth Ambassadors, members of the diplomatic corps, proud veterans, ladies and gentleman. A warm welcome to the third Commonwealth Remembrance Ceremony in Laos which I am honoured to host at my Residence, to be followed by our traditional Indian curry meal on such an occasion. This really is a great Commonwealth tradition! […]
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8th November 2017
Vienna, Austria
Several Austrian friends have asked me recently why I am wearing a small, red flower – a poppy – on my jacket lapel. It’s because the United Kingdom together with other Commonwealth nations will commemorate Remembrance Day on November 11th, the day in 1918 which marked the end of hostilities in the First World War. […]
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29th November 2016
Vienna, Austria
The grass is perfect. Rows of tombstones stand in rows. Two Austrian musicians play “The Last Post”. I was honoured recently to attend Remembrance Day commemorations at the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery at Klagenfurt, in Austria. The cemetery contains 589 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War. Most died on Austrian territory as prisoners of […]
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13th November 2016
Colombo, Sri Lanka
On Friday 11 November, we held our usual ceremony for Remembrance Day. The Commonwealth War Graves enclosure of the Liveramentu cemetery on Torrington Road was as serene as ever. The headstones are a startling white against the immaculate green grass. The tropical sun beats down. Birdsong fills the two minute silence. The reading from Kenny […]
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3rd November 2016
Skopje, North Macedonia
On 11 November we will mark the ninety-eighth anniversary of the Armistice which ended the First World War. The guns on the Western Front finally fell silent at eleven o’clock on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 after four years of war which left millions of victims and devastated countries. Each year […]
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11th November 2014
Budapest, Hungary
I’ve blogged before about Remembrance Day: the day when we in the UK remember those who have died defending our country and our values. Every year at this time we honour and remember them and their sacrifice. But this year our commemoration has been particularly poignant since 2014 is the centenary of the start of […]
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8th November 2013
Washington DC, USA
The following is a guest blog from Major James Knight from the Royal Marines. Major Knight works in the British Embassy as the staff officer to the Royal Marines Attaché. James has been in the Marines for 11 years and his career has seen him deploy to Iraq, Afghanistan and various ship deployments around the […]
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14th November 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
TRH The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall paid a Jubilee visit to Australia last week. He had visited many times before and is very fond of the country. For the Duchess it was her very first visit. They had a full programme travelling all over Australia, taking in the outback in Queensland, […]
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7th November 2012
Washington DC, USA
Sunday marks the ninety-fourth anniversary of the Armistice which ended the First World War. The guns on the Western Front finally fell silent at eleven o’clock on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 after four years of fighting which had claimed the lives of sixteen million and maimed a further twenty million. […]
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