Queen leads tributes to the fallen at Cenotaph

The Queen led the nation in honouring the fallen at the Cenotaph in London today as Remembrance services took place across the country.

The monarch laid the first wreath at the memorial in London's Whitehall to commemorate members of the Armed Forces who died fighting in conflicts since the First World War followed by Second World War veteran the Duke of Edinburgh.

They were followed by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge who joined politicians, military leaders, veterans and serving personnel in laying wreaths of poppies at the monument.

The Duchess of Cambridge and Duchess of Cornwall watched from the Foreign Office balcony.

Irish ambassador to Britain Dan Mulhall also laid a laurel wreath at the Cenotaph, the first diplomat from the Irish Republic to do so in almost 70 years.

Prime Minister David Cameron described this year's Remembrance Sunday as "particularly poignant" as 2014 marked the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings and the end of Britain's 13-year conflict in Afghanistan.

Mr Cameron was among the first to lay a wreath after the royals, followed by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Former prime ministers Sir John Major, Tony Blair and London mayor Boris Johnson also took part in the ceremony.

At the heart of the service was a two-minute silence, marked at the beginning and end by the firing of a round by the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, using a 13-pounder First World War gun.

At the end of the silence, buglers of the Royal Marines sounded the last post.