World leaders at WW1 centenary events in UK and Belgium
Royals and world leaders have gathered for ceremonies marking 100 years since Britain joined World War One.
The Prince of Wales and David Cameron attended a service in
Glasgow, while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are in Belgium with
many heads of state.
At that ceremony, Prince William paid tribute to the soldiers who "died to give us our freedom".
The day concludes with a candle-lit vigil at Westminster Abbey and a "lights out" event around the UK.
The public can join the switch-off ending at 23:00 - the time Britain declared war on Germany in 1914.
About 17 million soldiers and civilians were killed between 1914 and 1918.
'Deadly days'
The day's events began in Liege, Belgium, where 50 heads of state gathered for a service to mark the invasion of Belgium.
French President Francois Hollande said the country had been
the first battleground of WW1 and had offered "solid resistance" in
Liege.
"Deadly days" followed when French and British soldiers joined the conflict, he said.
Speaking to the gathered European leaders, Prince William said:
"We were enemies more than once in the last century and today we are
friends and allies.
"We salute those who died to give us our freedom. We will remember them."
Meanwhile, the service at Glasgow Cathedral - attended by
Prince Charles, Mr Cameron, First Minister Alex Salmond, and 1,400
others - heard from a number of Commonwealth figures.
The BBC's Laura Bicker said Sunday's closing ceremony of the
Commonwealth Games was being discussed by many before the service - but
the celebrations were "put to one side" as the congregation took time to
"remember and reflect".
Prince Harry unveiled a memorial arch in Folkestone, Kent -
where a parade followed the route taken by millions of soldiers who
marched to the harbour to begin their voyage to France in WW1.
At the scene
Robert Hall, BBC News, Mons
The beautiful military cemetery at St Symphorien has been transformed.
Across the boundary fence, in what is normally empty
farmland, a great grandstand has risen, overlooking the graves of the
first and the last British soldier to die in World War One.
Cables snake around the gravestones of British and German
soldiers, laid here side by side after the battles that raged around
Mons on summer days in 1914.
St Symphorien has become an arena, overlooked by a worldwide
audience, where Monday evening's televised event will mark personal
sacrifice and celebrate new friendships.
Under the pine trees, David MacCarthy had come to find the
grave of his great-uncle, killed 10 days after arriving in Belgium, aged
23.
Standing in front of the headstone with his daughter, Mr MacCarthy said he was proud to be here on this anniversary.
The families who have travelled here from Britain and Germany share those sentiments.
Other commemorations include:
- A wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in Glasgow - one of many events being held in Scotland
- In Northern Ireland from 19:00, a service at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast will be attended by First Minister Peter Robinson and NI Secretary Theresa Villiers
- From 19:30 BST, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will mark the centenary at St Symphorien Military Cemetery in Mons, Belgium
- Westminster Abbey will hold an hour-long candle-lit vigil service of prayer from 22:00
- In Wales, a national service of remembrance at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff will also take place from 22:00
- In Dundee, a war memorial time capsule put together by postal workers in 1921 is to be opened
- A new memorial is to be unveiled in Bramley, Leeds, in honour of 500 fallen soldiers from the area
- Prince Harry unveiled a monument in Folkestone, where millions of men left for WW1
- Military records rarely seen in public are among World War One artefacts on display at Guernsey's Priaulx Library
- All Saints Church in Dunsden, Oxfordshire, where World War One poet Wilfred Owen worked, is putting his poems to music
Elsewhere, 888,246 ceramic poppies
are being placed in the dry moat at the Tower of London, one for each
soldier who died fighting for Britain and its colonies in WW1.
The installation by artist Paul Cummins is entitled Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red and will be unveiled on Tuesday.
The St Symphorien cemetery is of particular significance as an
equal number of both German and British soldiers are buried there.
Among them lies Private John Parr, who was the first British
soldier killed on the Western Front, and Maurice James Dease who was the
first recipient of the Victoria Cross in WW1.
At the scene
Laura Bicker, BBC News, Glasgow
Last night they gathered to hear Hampden roar for the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.
Today the leaders and representatives from across the
Commonwealth stood in silence at Glasgow's medieval cathedral. They were
given a single poppy for their own personal act of remembrance.
Officers representing the armed forces walked through the
aisles next to a child. Some were from the local Sunday school or the
Scouts and Brownies. They held a candle of peace and hope. An act of
remembrance to be taken on by the next generation.
And it was 16-year-old Kirsten Fell from Dunbar who had the
final word. She read an essay written after a school trip to Flanders
where she had been placed in front of a headstone of an unknown soldier
and told to imagine his life.
"They told us we would change," she told the congregation.
"It will always be with me and nothing will be forgotten. I will
remember my soldier."
Between 22:00 and 23:00, the Royal British Legion's Lights Out event
will see households, businesses and public buildings across the UK turn
out their lights to leave a single candle or light burning.
The event was inspired by the words of wartime Foreign
Secretary Sir Edward Grey, who said on the eve of WW1: "The lamps are
going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our
lifetime."
Tower Bridge, the Eden Project in Cornwall, the headquarters
of the Football Association and the Imperial War Museums in London and
Trafford, Greater Manchester, are among the other buildings taking part
in the event.
As part of a remembrance project called the Big Picture,
giant images of candles will be projected on to buildings including
Battersea Power Station in London and the Royal Liver Building in
Liverpool during "lights out" hour.
Earlier Prime Minister David Cameron told BBC Breakfast the outbreak of war was "an extraordinary day in Britain's history".
"When you think that almost every family, almost every
community was affected, almost a million British people were lost in
this war, it is right that even 100 years on, we commemorate it, we
think about it and we mark it properly," he said.
The Queen will not attend any of the major ceremonies, but
will pay her respects at a service in Crathie Kirk near Balmoral in
Scotland. The Duke of Edinburgh will attend a ceremony at Sandringham
Church in Norfolk.
On Sunday, the French and German presidents commemorated the
100th anniversary of Germany's declaration of war on France on 3 August
1914.
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