Red Arrows Display For D-Day Anniversary

The Red Arrows have performed a display over Portsmouth as commemorations continue ahead of the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

The air show was part of a day's festivities which included a sail-past by a flotilla of Royal Navy and Allied nation ships sailing from Portsmouth to the Normandy coast.

Meanwhile, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have arrived in Paris for a state visit to France in which she and other senior members of the Royal family will take part in events commemorating the D-Day landings.

The Queen and Prince Philip will on Friday meet veterans in Normandy, the site of the invasion of Europe by Allied forces on June 6.

The Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will also be present.

Earlier, the Princess Royal attended a service in Portsmouth in tribute to those who took part in the invasion.

More than 200 veterans and military personnel and representatives from the Armed Forces of the UK, Canada and France attended a parade to Southsea Common where the main UK ceremony was held.

In a message in the order of service, Princess Anne, who is Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, wrote: "People here are rightly proud of their contributions, and those of their parents and grandparents, to that daunting operation.

"The anniversary of June 6, 1944, will always be an emotional one, with memories of lost comrades, family members, and the large numbers killed in thosefirst days following the Normandy landings.

"They had no idea what they were to face, or what the effect of their efforts would be, but as we now know, D-Day marked the beginning of the end of the Second World War."

Her message ended: "We salute all those involved in Operation Overlord and 'We will remember them'."