Camilla boarded a train this morning to take part in a moving tradition to commemorate the nation’s war dead as the royals mark Armistice Day
Queen Camilla lays wreath at Paddington Station
The Queen jumped onboard a train today as she took part in a ‘Poppies to Paddington’ initiative to mark Armistice Day. Camilla took the 9:28am service from Chippenham in Wiltshire to Paddington in London alongside stunned commuters to lay a wreath on Platform 1.
Poppies to Paddington began during the November 2020 Covid lockdown as a way of marking the annual commemorations of the nation’s war dead. In partnership with The Veterans Charity, wreaths are placed on early morning train services from more than 60 stations, arriving in London for a special Remembrance Day service. It has since become a key annual event across the Great Western Railway (GWR) network to honour those lost in conflict.
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At Chippenham, which is the closest station to Queen Camilla ’s private Wiltshire home, Ray Mill, she met members of the local community and executives from Great Western Railway with their wreaths on Platform 2. She was also given a sweet wreath made from crocheted poppies by children from Monkton Primary School to take to London with her.
The youngsters told her that they had spent six weeks making it, many having never crocheted before. Sporting an elegant dark green dress and a black cape, she was complemented on wearing ‘GWR’s colours’. “Of course,” she laughed.
She also told the children that she was “worried that you are all a bit cold”. “Did you knit this?” she asked. “Crocheted? Well that’s very impressive. I was never very good at that. Or knitting for that matter. Are we taking this to London for you?” She added that her own poppy pinned to her dress was knitted from wool that had come from the King’s sheep at Sandringham.
Spotting her train pulling into the platform, Camilla remarked: “Oh good, it’s on time” and boarded with her protection team. Appropriately, the train was named ‘Odette Hallowes GC MBE’ after the Second World War hero.
Codenamed ‘Lise’, Hallowes was a member of the UK’s Special Operations Executive in France and became the first woman to be awarded the George Cross for her bravery. She was eventually captured by the Germans and imprisoned in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp in horrific conditions. Remarkably she survived and eventually died in England at the age of 82 after a truly extraordinary life.
On route the train stopped at Swindon Station, with local dignitaries bringing on board several more wreaths to be taken to London. “I’m not sure where we are going to put all of these but we will take good care of them. It’s my pleasure. We will decorate the seats,” the Queen remarked and she took charge of them.
Due to arrive at Paddington at 10.44am, Queen Camilla will walk down to Platform 1’s permanent war memorial for a moving service. The Call to Remembrance is due to be read and the Last Post played, followed by the traditional two minute’s silence at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month.
After the Reveille, the Military Wives Choir will perform the song ‘Poppy Red’, before Her Majesty lays a wreath in front of the memorial. The Queen is also due to meet the performers, the railway chaplain and a small group of reservists and veterans from recent conflicts working in the railway industry.
Before she departs, the royal will also view a special liveried train on Platform 1 featuring the names of all 2,545 men who worked for GWR and died during The Great War, as well as meeting some surviving family members. The train is named after two of them, Allan Leonard Lewis VC and Harold Day DSC.
This year’s ceremony marks 80 years since the end of the Second World War and remembers the role of railways in conflict over the past 200 years, from the Crimean War to Sir Nicholas Winston’s historic Kindertransport in 1939, as well as the support given to veterans and reservists working for the industry today. Last month marked two centuries since the birth of the modern railway, with the official launch of the first steam-hauled passenger journey on a public railway.
