Wreath Laid at Whitehall Memorial to Honor Anzac Forces in Battle of Gallipoli

Princess Catherine laid a wreath at the Cenotaph in London to mark ANZAC Day, honoring Australian and New Zealand soldiers who died in the Gallipoli campaign of World War I.

The ceremony took place on April 25, 2026, marking the 111th anniversary of the 1915 Gallipoli landing of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps troops on the western shore of the Gallipoli peninsula.

A woman in a New Zealand military uniform handed the princess a wreath, which she placed at the foot of the national war memorial on Whitehall.

The ring of poppies with white flowers on top bore a note signed by Catherine and Prince William that read: “In memory of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.”

Following the wreath-laying, the high commissioners for New Zealand and Australia, Hamish Cooper and Jay Weatherill, walked in tandem to lay their own wreaths at the memorial.

Reverend Dr Lyndon Drake recited from “The Fallen” by English poet Laurence Binyon, including the lines: “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”

A Royal Marines Portsmouth Road Band trumpeter played the Last Post, followed by a one-minute silence observed by attendees.

Princess Catherine joined those present in singing the hymn “O God Our Help in Ages Past” before military personnel marched off Whitehall.

The princess was scheduled to attend a commemoration and thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey later on Saturday.

The Gallipoli campaign, part of a British-led effort to defeat the Ottoman Empire, aimed to secure a naval route through the Dardanelles from the Mediterranean Sea to Constantinople, now Istanbul, in Turkey. More than 100,000 troops died in the failed campaign that lasted into 1916.