Today is the 80th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied troops rocked up Nazi-controlled Normandy. There are D-Day commemorations held in Normandy every year, but for the big anniversaries (50th, 60th, etc), there’s a real effort to bring together as many world leaders as possible on Omaha Beach, the site of the deadliest part of Operation Overlord for American troops. British and Canadian troops were obviously involved in D-Day, and there are special memorials and commemoration events held on other beaches and at other sites.

These photos are of President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron greeting King Charles and Queen Camilla at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer. Apparently, Charles and Camilla will not join the world leaders on Omaha Beach today in a somewhat last-minute change. They were originally scheduled to do just that – go to Ver-sur-Mer AND Omaha – but now they’re saying it’s too much for Charles given the fact that the man still has cancer. At Ver-sur-Mer, Charles gave a moving speech in which he echoed his grandfather’s words:

Eighty years ago on D-day, the 6th of June 1944, our nation – and those which stood alongside it – faced what my grandfather, King George VI, described as the supreme test. How fortunate we were, and the entire free world, that a generation of men and women in the United Kingdom and other allied nations did not flinch when the moment came to face that test.

On the beaches of Normandy, on the seas beyond and in the skies overhead, our armed forces carried out their duty with a humbling sense of resolve and determination – qualities so characteristic of that remarkable wartime generation.

Very many of them never came home, they lost their lives on the D-day landing grounds or in the many battles that followed. It is with the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them and all those who served at that critical time. We recall the lesson that comes to us again and again across the decades – free nations must stand together to oppose tyranny.

This vital start to the liberation of Europe was a vast allied effort. American, British, Canadian, French and Polish formations fought here in Normandy. Among the names inscribed on the walls and pillars of this memorial are men and women from more than 30 different nations and many faiths.

United, they fought together for what my grandfather, King George VI, described as ‘a world in which goodness and honour may be the foundation of the life of men in every land’.

[From The Guardian]

This actually made me a bit emotional, Charles echoing his grandfather’s words, thinking about Prince Philip’s service during the war (in the Pacific theater) and all of that. Also: Camilla’s hat is ridiculous. It didn’t have to be that big and cartoonish.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.