Charles spoke 80 years on from grandfather George VI’s address to nation in 1945
King Charles has called for “global commitments to restoring a just peace where there is war, to diplomacy and to the prevention of conflict” in a speech marking the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day.
The King led tributes at the ceremony in Westminster Abbey, where he was joined by 78 Second World War veterans, senior royals and politicians.
Following a two-minute silence held across the UK, Charles laid a special wreath at the grave of the Unknown Warrior with a note saying: “We will never forget.”
He then began his speech at 9pm – 80 years to the hour on from his grandfather George VI’s address to the nation on 8 May, 1945.
Charles said the debt to those “whose firm resolve and fortitude helped destroy Nazism and carry our allied nations through to VE Day” could “never truly be repaid”.
Reflecting on the VE Day speeches, Charles said: “We should remind ourselves of the words of our great wartime leader, Sir Winston Churchill, who said ‘meeting jaw to jaw is better than war’.
“In so doing, we should also rededicate ourselves not only to the cause of freedom but to renewing global commitments to restoring a just peace where there is war, to diplomacy, and to the prevention of conflict.”
“For as my grandfather put it, ‘We shall have failed, and the blood of our dearest will have flowed in vain, if the victory which they died to win does not lead to a lasting peace, founded on justice and established in good will’.
He added: “Just as those exceptional men and women fulfilled their duty to each other, to humankind, and to God, bound by an unshakeable commitment to nation and service, in turn it falls to us to protect and continue their precious legacy – so that one day hence generations yet unborn may say of us: ‘they too bequeathed a better world’.”
Charles also shared a diary entry written by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on the day after VE Day.
The entry read: “Out in the crowd again. Embankment, Piccadilly. Rained, so fewer people. Conga-ed into House. Sang till 2am Bed at 3am!”
Charles’s grandfather spoke from Buckingham Palace to thank the country for its contribution as the war ended in Europe.
In the lead up to Charles’s speech, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, used his address to say that all the good outcomes that had come out of VE Day were being tested.
“Those first outpourings of joy on the first VE Day led to something good, because in our opposition of what was worst in us, we discovered what was best,” he said.
“All this good is under threat again in our world today.”