King Charles<\/a>, 75, and Queen Camilla, 76, as they stood alongside war veterans during an 80th anniversary event marking the 1944 Normandy landings. <\/p>\nHe spoke of Catherine during the ceremony in Portsmouth on Wednesday (05.06.24) afternoon, after delivering a speech to veterans and while meeting with members of the public.<\/p>\n
When one war survivor asked after William\u2019s wife amid her health fight, footage posted on X showed him replying: \u201cShe is better, thanks. She would’ve loved to be here today.\u201d<\/p>\n
William added at the event, hosted by the Ministry of Defence at Southsea Common, he had been speaking with women who worked at Bletchley Park as codebreakers during World War Two alongside Catherine’s grandmother, Valerie Middleton.<\/p>\n
\nThe royal added: \u201cI was reminding everyone how her grandmother served at Bletchley so she had quite a bit in common with some of the ladies here.\u201d <\/p>\n
\nHe also told one woman at the event: \u201cMy wife\u2019s grandmother did the same sort of thing as you. Catherine only found out at the end of her life.\u201d <\/p>\n
\nValerie worked with her twin sister Mary in Hut 16 at Bletchley Park as part of the team of codebreakers who unlocked the secrets of the German Enigma machine, with their efforts hailed as ultimately helping to win the war for Britain. <\/p>\n
\nSpeaking to other veterans, William said: \u201cI found it very moving, all the stories and letters, even now 80 years later.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWhen one veteran told William \u201cthank you\u201d, the prince replied: \u201cNo, we are here to thank you. We are here to say a big thank you and to all your colleagues and friends who didn\u2019t make it back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nCharles also spoke at the event, and was introduced to a 99-year-old paratrooper who turns 100 in August \u2013 and joked: \u201cI\u2019ll have your card ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nIn his first speech since it was revealed in February he was battling an undisclosed form of cancer following a corrective procedure to treat an enlarged prostate the previous month, Charles said about WW2 personnel while wearing medals and with Camilla by his side: \u201cWe are all eternally in their debt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHe added: \u201cThe stories of courage, resilience and solidarity which you have heard today and throughout our lives cannot fail to move us, to inspire us and to remind us of what we owe to that great wartime generation, now tragically dwindling to so few.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt is our duty to ensure that we and future generations do not forget their service and their sacrifice in replacing tyranny with freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWilliam said in his speech to the crowds: \u201cOur guests of honour today are those veterans from the Normandy landing, that came from across our nation and from all walks of life to join in the fight against tyranny.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cMany of those that took up arms had never seen combat before, some were still only in their teens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWilliam also read emotional letters from diaries of war heroes, adding: \u201cWe will always remember those who served and those who waved them off.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who watched their loved ones go into battle, unsure if they would ever return.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cToday we remember the bravery of those who crossed this sea to liberate Europe. Those who ensured that Operation Overlord was a success.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAnd those who waited for their safe return.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBritish Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took to the stage and read veterans\u2019 letters at the event, which was also attended by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary, Lord David Cameron.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"5 June 2024 Prince William\u2019s wife Princess Catherine is \u201cbetter\u201d and \u201cwould have loved\u201d to have joined him at this year\u2019s D-Day commemorations. Prince William\u2019s wife Princess Catherine is \u2018better\u2019 and \u2018would have loved\u2019 to have joined him at this year\u2019s D-Day commemorations The heir to the British throne, 41, gave an update on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":102479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[244,8200,8199,246,7317,135,1360,2200,8198],"class_list":{"0":"post-102478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-king-charles","9":"tag-lord-david-cameron","10":"tag-mary-middleton","11":"tag-prince-william","12":"tag-princess-catherine","13":"tag-queen-camilla","14":"tag-rishi-sunak","15":"tag-sir-keir-starmer","16":"tag-valerie-middleton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}