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VE Day celebrations (Photo: AP)
The United Kingdom kicked off four days of national celebrations on Monday to mark 80 years since the end of World War II in Europe, known as Victory in Europe (VE) Day. Festivities began with a grand military parade, street parties, and a Royal Air Force (RAF) flypast over central London.
Earlier in the day, Red Arrows, accompanied by other RAF aircraft, filled the skies above London with red, white, and blue at around 1:45pm on Bank Holiday Monday.
The flypast was followed by a military procession from Whitehall to Buckingham Palace, featuring more than 1,300 members of the UK Armed Forces, youth groups, and uniformed services. The event will be witnessed by the royal family and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Participating aircraft included:
- Red Arrows
- Typhoon fighter jets
- F-35 stealth fighters
- Voyager transport aircraft
- P8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft
- Historic WWII-era planes
- A400M Atlas, C-17 Globemaster, and Rivet Joint (rehearsed on April 29)
VE Day 80 – Other events
The 80th anniversary of VE Day falls on Thursday, 8 May 2025, marking the day Nazi Germany formally surrendered in 1945. Celebrations will continue throughout the week:
- A party will be held aboard HMS Belfast, a WWII-era warship moored on the River Thames.
- Queen Camilla will visit a powerful art installation featuring 30,000 red ceramic poppies at the Tower of London, symbolizing remembrance.
- On May 8, a two-minute national silence will be observed at 12 noon, with participation from the royal family and government institutions.
- From that historic balcony on May 8, 1945, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth appeared with Prime Minister Winston Churchill and their two daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. They acknowledged the massive crowd of Londoners who had assembled to celebrate what Churchill proclaimed as the "day of victory in Europe".
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