Her Majesty the Queen and more than 7,000 veterans gathered at The Cenotaph in London's Whitehall alone, to take part in the Remembrance Sunday Service and March Past, organised by The Royal British Legion, which is the National Custodian of Remembrance.

The March Past was led by the Legion Trustees and the National Chairman, Peter Cleminson with the lead 'column' this year headed by the Royal Signals Association.

National Chairman at The Royal British Legion, Peter Cleminson said: "Remembrance Sunday is one of the most important days in the Legion calendar and it's a time to reflect upon the sacrifices made by our Armed Forces since the First World War right through to today.

"Our thoughts on Sunday will, of course, be with those men and women who are currently in Afghanistan, as well as the many men and women who have laid down their lives for the nation's freedom."

The events at the Cenotaph began with a two minutes' silence at 11.00am, followed by the Last Post played by an Armed Forces bugler.

The Queen then laid the first wreath at the start of a 20-minute religious service which was also attended by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, Prince William, Prince Harry, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, high commissioners from the Commonwealth and defence chiefs from all three armed forces.

Prince Harry laid a wreath for the first time, representing his father, the Prince of Wales, who is carrying out official duties in Canada and politicians. The thousands of veterans and civilians then marched down Whitehall.

Missing from this year's ceremony for the first time were the veterans of the First World War, as the last surviving British participants in that conflict, Henry Allingham, Harry Patch and Bill Stone, sadly died in the last year.

The passing of the World War One generation will be formally marked at a special service at Westminster Abbey, London, on Armistice Day, Wednesday 11 November 2009.