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The Queen has led the nation in remembering Britain's war dead at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony, in a weekend that saw the death toll in Afghanistan rise by two more lives
The monarch was joined by other members of the Royal Family, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and opposition party leaders at the wreath-laying event at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.
After the Two Minutes' Silence, the Queen laid the first wreath. She was followed in placing wreaths by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Harry, on behalf of the Prince of Wales who is on an official visit to Canada, and Prince William, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal and the Duke of Kent.
They were followed by Mr Brown, David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, high commissioners from Commonwealth countries and defence chiefs. Approximately 7,500 ex-service men and women and 1,600 civilians were taking part in a march past the Cenotaph.
At Saturday night's annual Festival of Remembrance in London the mounting death toll of British troops in Afghanistan dominated everybody's thoughts. There were constant references to events in Afghanistan during the evening and the audience at the Royal Albert Hall - including the Queen and the Prime Minister - were shown film of operations to fly wounded servicemen back to Britain and interviews with soldiers expressing sadness at the loss of their colleagues.
The Festival of Remembrance, for many years devoted to remembering the dead of the First and Second World Wars, had a change of emphasis this year in the wake of military losses in Afghanistan, where the British death toll since operations began there in 2001 has risen to 230.
Two British soldiers died over the weekend in separate explosions near Sangin, in central Helmand Province. One was from the 2nd Battalion, The Rifles and the other, killed on Remembrance Sunday, was from 4th Battalion, The Rifles. Their families have been informed.
Before Armed Forces sweetheart Hayley Westenra sang We'll Meet Again at the Festival of Remembrance in honour of the original Armed Forces sweetheart, Dame Vera Lynn, Dame Vera appeared on film saying; "It's a song that suits the situation at the moment, with the boys in Afghanistan, and so far away from home. We must not forget, we must always remember."
