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Queen Leads Cenotaph Tribute To Gallipoli Dead

The Queen has led a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall to mark 100 years since the the First World War's Gallipoli campaign.

She was joined by other members of the royal family, political leaders and senior military figures to remember those who fought and died in one of the bloodiest events of the conflict.

As Big Ben tolled the last stroke of 11am buglers from the Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines sounded The Last Post, signalling the start of two minutes' silence.

Others to lay floral tributes included the Prime Minister David Cameron, George Brandis, Australia's Attorney General, and David Carter MP, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives.

Following the ceremony, the Queen and Prince Philip joined the congregation at Westminster Abbey for a service of commemoration.

Earlier, Prince Charles took part in a dawn service in Turkey to mark the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign – one of the bloodiest events of World War One.

The prime minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, and New Zealand premier John Key also addressed the crowd of 10,000 - made up mainly of their fellow countrymen.

The service coincided with the moment the first amphibious assault was launched exactly a century ago.

Around 58,000 Allied troops were killed in the eight-month slaughter, including 29,500 from Britain and Ireland, over 12,000 from France, 11,000 from Australia and New Zealand and 1,500 from India.

An estimated 87,000 Turks also died defending their home soil.

Prince Charles read a moving letter written by a soldier to his wife on the eve of Gallipoli and paid tribute to "all those who served and suffered in this faraway place on the other side of the world from the Antipodes".

Australians and New Zealanders, many wearing brightly-coloured Anzac clothing and woolly hats, huddled together overnight to wait for the ceremony to start.

Anzac Day is an important annual event in the two countries but does not have a high profile in the UK, despite tens of thousands of British deaths.

Australian PM Tony Abbott said the sacrifice and bravery of the fallen Anzac troops (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) was an inspiration.

"They did their duty, now let us do ours; they gave us an example, now let us be worthy of it.

"They were as good as they could be in their time, no let us be as good as we can be in ours."

The amphibious assault started at dawn on 25 April 1915 as wave after wave of British, Irish, French, Australian, New Zealand and Indian troops attacked heavily-defended beaches on the strategically-important peninsula.

The landings were designed to open up a new front in the war and draw German and Axis resources away from the Western Front. It would also release the Russian Fleet from the Black Sea.

The strategy was the brainchild of Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty.

In order to reach and attack Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Allied forces had to pass through the Dardenelles Straits, past the Gallipoli Peninsula.

However, the straits were heavily guarded by Ottoman forces.

Hopeless planning, hostile conditions and heroic defending by the Turks saw the operation called off in early January 1916.

A number of other events will be held throughout the day on the Gallipoli Peninsula at key battlefields, memorials and cemeteries.

Princes Charles and Prince Harry are in Turkey representing the Queen.

Last night they hosted a service at the Helles Memorial which remembers the Commonwealth soldiers whose bodies were never found and have no grave.