Rishi Sunak’s election campaigning and King Charles’s convalescence from cancer will be put on hold for 48 hours, as the two men join veterans to mark the 80th anniversary of D-day on the south coast of England and in Normandy, reports The Guardian.
Two days of events at the ports where allied troops embarked for their perilous journey, and on the French beaches from where they began the liberation of Europe in 1944, will begin on Wednesday at 11am on Southsea common on Portsmouth’s sea front.
The king, who has made only a few public appearances since his cancer diagnosis in February, and the prime minister will join hundreds of local schoolchildren for what is billed as a spectacular cultural commemoration that will be broadcast live on BBC One.
Dame Helen Mirren will narrate the ceremony and the prime minister, who is taking a break from campaigning for the 4 July general election, will deliver a reading.
[...] The Red Arrows will fly in a precision formation trailing the team’s trademark red, white and blue colours. An aircraft from the RAF Typhoon Display Team will accompany them.
Visible from the proceedings on land, the frigate HMS St Albans will be at the heart of the commemorations in Portsmouth before sailing across the Channel overnight on 5 June, recreating the voyage of the soldiers eight decades ago. The warship will reappear at anchor off the beaches of Normandy as the commemorations continue in France.
The focus of the commemorations will move to Normandy on Wednesday afternoon, where hundreds of allied Armed Forces personnel will parachute into a D-day “drop zone” to honour the success of the airborne invasion.
On Tuesday, 22 veterans departed from Portsmouth on a ferry to relive the journey they took as part of the largest amphibious invasion force in history.