The British royal family showed up in force this evening to celebrate the Festival of Remembrance, a yearly event that commemorates “all those that have served and sacrificed from Britain and the Commonwealth.” 

Though Her Majesty The Queen did not attend, Prince Charles and Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and Catherine, The Duchess of Cambridge, and other senior members of the royal family all paid their respects to those who have paid the ultimate price for their country.

As the Queen was not in attendance as she is still under doctors’ orders to rest, those in the royal box reflected the future of the monarchy in the country. 

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, took the central position on the balcony, with other family members flanking them.

To their right were Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge, and his wife Catherine, The Duchess of Cambridge. 

Catherine looked beautiful in a repeated black tweed button up dress in black, as most of those who attend wear black. In what could be as a subtle clap back at Meghan Markle’s recent decision to wear a diamond bracelet that allegedly belonged to Princess Diana, the Duchess wore pearl earring and a pear bracelet belonging to Princess Diana.

Though he is still too young, it about a decade or so Prince George could be taking the seat next to his father and mother for the ceremony.

Other royals who took time out of their evening to remember those who had lost their lives for Queen and country includes Princess Anne The Princess Royal and her husband Sir Timothy Lawrence, The Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, The Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. 

Remembrance events throughout Great Britain and beyond began after World War I, which utterly devastated the country and its male population. Parliament reports that 880,000 British forces died, that’s roughly 6% of the adult male population at the time. For many, it seemed like no family was except from the loss of a loved one, even royalty.

Famously, the Queen Mother started the royal tradition of laying her wedding bouquet on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Westminster Abbey as a way to honor her brother Fergus who was killed during the Battle of Loos in 1915. It then became an ongoing tradition for royal ladies.

The process of remember those lost continued to grow and has become a large, somber and focal point of the royals’ calendars. 

As this is such a critical event, it was a shock last year when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who left the royal family to pursue a Hollywood career, made the utterly horrific decision to take a fashion photographer to the Los Angeles National Cemetery, where they walked over the graves of U.S. military members to “commemorate” the holiday.

The spectacle, aimed to grab attention, was utterly inappropriate and tone deaf, which will hopefully not be repeated by the couple this year.

It’s a welcome sign to see the royals taking time to once again to remember those who died in a series of services that have been going on for almost 100 years.

As Remembrance week wraps up, the royals are once again expected to appear at the Cenotaph tomorrow, Sunday, November 13. After taking a long and much needed break, the Queen is expected on the balcony, likely with the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cornwall.