Yahoo News Princess Anne followed in her great-great-grandfather’s footsteps to commemorate WWI soldiers
Princess Anne arrived in France for a special commemoration of soldiers lost in the First World War which took place on Sunday (15 May).
The Princess Royal followed in the footsteps of her great-great grandfather, George V who first began the commemorative visits which were known as ‘The King’s Pilgrimage’. Princess Anne’s recent visit marked 100 years of the tradition.
Photographs of George V and Princess Anne at the graves of fallen soldiers were shared side-by-side on the official Instagram account of the Royal Family, along with black and white images of other visits from over the past century.
Further images showed Princess Anne being escorted around the Étaples Military Cemetery where she was able to pay her respects.
A caption in the Royal Family’s official post said that during WWI, “many bodies were left, unretrievable, in no man’s land. Others were buried by comrades: a simple wooden cross marking their grave.”
In response to this, it went on to explain, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was established in order to try and commemorate every solider who was lost to the war.
One way this was achieved was by issuing special passes to the families of those visiting their relatives’ gravestones in France and Belgium. George V was given his own and a photograph of the original pass was also included in the social media post.
As well as commemorating the 100 years of The King’s Pilgrimage, Princess Anne and many other members of the Royal Family have been undertaking a range of important visits to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, which commemorates her historic 70 years on the throne.
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