Catherine, Princess of Wales, led commemorations on ANZAC Day by laying a wreath at the Cenotaph in a somber ceremony on Saturday, April 25, 2026. Hundreds of people pressed against a fence to watch as she honored the memory of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) troops who landed at Gallipoli in 1915 during the First World War.
A Solemn Tribute
A woman in New Zealand military uniform handed the princess a wreath, which she placed at the foot of the national war memorial on Whitehall. The wreath, a ring of poppies with white flowers, bore a note signed by Catherine and William, reading: "In memory of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom."
The service commemorated the landing of ANZAC troops on the western shore of the Gallipoli peninsula on April 25, 1915, as part of a failed campaign that lasted into 1916. The Gallipoli campaign, part of a British-led effort to defeat the Ottoman Empire, aimed to secure a naval route through the Dardanelles from the Mediterranean Sea to Constantinople, now Istanbul, in Turkey. More than 100,000 troops died in the campaign.
Order of Service
The high commissioners for New Zealand and Australia, Hamish Cooper and Jay Weatherill, walked in tandem to lay their wreaths. Reverend Dr. Lyndon Drake recited from The Fallen by English poet Laurence Binyon: "They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them." A Royal Marines Portsmouth Road Band trumpeter played the Last Post, followed by a one-minute silence. Princess Kate joined attendees in singing the hymn O God Our Help in Ages Past before military personnel marched off Whitehall.
The Princess of Wales is scheduled to attend a commemoration and thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey later on Saturday.
Other Royal Engagements
Earlier on Saturday, the Princess Royal attended a dawn service at Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner in London. Anne arrived for the ANZAC service, organized by the New Zealand and Australian high commissions, shortly before it started at 5 a.m. She laid a wreath against Wellington Arch during a service that included a reading of John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields and concluded with the national anthems of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia.
Commemorations Across the Globe
Services were also held across New Zealand, Australia, and on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey on Saturday morning. The day was also marked in Villers-Bretonneux, a village in the Somme region of France, which Australian units helped defend during the First World War. A post on X, formerly known as Twitter, from the Royal Family read: "Today is #ANZACDay – which honours the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations."
