In April this year Canberra was awash with Prince Harry fever when he arrived fresh off the plane from the UK and came straight to The Australian War Memorial in his dashing dress uniform to lay a wreath before starting his month embedded in the Australian Defence Force. He broke the tour of duty just once to join his father at the ANZAC Day centenary celebrations in Gallipoli.
Of course Harry was following a time honoured tradition connecting the royals with our armed forces and today it is Prince Charles who follows in his son’s recent footsteps paying tribute to the fallen at the Remembrance Day National Ceremony at the Australian War Memorial with his wife the Duchess of Cornwall.
Charles and Camilla have their own special connections to our armed forces. The Prince of Wales is Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Australian Armoured Corps and The Royal Pacific Islands Regiment and The Duchess of Cornwall is the Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Australian Corps of Military Police.
Thousands turned out for today’s moving ceremony, undaunted by grey skies and teeming rain.
They included 65-year-olds Elizabeth Dillon-Hensley from Victoria and Terese Binns from Tasmania, escorted by dapper local 86-year-old Des De Belle.
Elizabeth Dillon-Hensley, Terese Binns and Des De Belle.
For Elizabeth, dressed in a replica Australian National Nursing Service uniform from 1915, today is all about honouring her grandparents Elsie-May Marsh who served in the nursing corps in 1914 and 1915 in Egypt, Lemnos and on transport ships.
There she met her husband army Dr Horace Downing who wrote her “the most beautiful letters” all through the war.
“I have the love letters and they are so wonderful and well-written,” Elizabeth tells The Weekly. “Because of those letters I feel a real connection to World War One and to Gallipoli.”
Terese also feels that connection and was one of very few women to ride in the 95th anniversary re-enactment of the Charge of Light Brigade in 2012 and today is dressed in a replica nurses uniform from 1916.
Both ladies had the uniforms made to official war memorial specifications at a cost of several hundred dollars. “I think it’s important to commemorate the sacrifice,” Terese tells The Weekly.
When I tell the trio about today’s special royal guests, they are astonished. They had no idea Prince Charles and Camilla were attending. Others in the crowd however are here hoping to capture a photograph of the Prince.
As the rain intensifies and umbrellas are raised the chairs fill with invitees, dignitaries, school children, servicemen and women and politicians. Noone cares about the weather, this is about honouring our heroes.
Julie Bishop walks swiftly to her seat in a stylish black hat and after a rousing round of Waltzing Matilda Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy are the first to arrive from a motorcade.
Next Price Charles and the Duchess drive up Anzac Parade and walk onto the parade ground. The Duchess is wearing a chic black Bruce Oldfield dress and Philip Treacy hat and the Prince is in a suit decorated with medals. Finally Governor-General Peter Cosgrove and his wife Lynne arrive and the ceremony begins.
This commemoration highlights the role of First Australians in the Great War with Able Seaman Boatswain’s Mate Alan Patterson of the Gunggandi people playing a didgeridoo and Dr Jackie Huggins reading a powerful address in memory of her father who died at the age of 38 having served in an indigenous unit in the Australian Defence Force.
The royal joined others to lay a wreath at the foot of the Stone of Remembrance during the service and at the conclusion of the ceremony, Their Royal Highnesses headed into the Australian War Memorial with Rear Admiral Doolan and Mrs Doolan, and the Governor-General and Lady Cosgrove.
Inside Charles and Camilla laid a floral tribute on the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier in the Hall of Memory, before walking along the Eastern Cloister and placing a poppy on the Roll of Honour, alongside the name of a fallen Indigenous soldier who fought in both World Wars.
A moving and dignified start to the royal day in the nation’s capital.
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