The Queen’s deep devotion to the Armed Forces and to the memories of those who have died in conflict were symbolic of her reign. And in 2014, she paid tribute to those lost in the First World War during a time of remembrance.
As the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One approached, the Tower of London began a striking act of commemoration, designed to show the magnitude of loss in that conflict. Hundreds of thousands of ceramic poppies were planted in the dry moat around the Tower over several months to mark a century since the war began.
By Armistice Day 2014, there were 888,246 flowers in the moat, one for every soldier killed fighting for Britain during the conflict.
The installation, called The Blood Swept Land and Seas of Red Poppies, was created by artists Paul Cummins and Tom Piper. Over 21,000 people helped to plant the poppies which soon became a place of reflection for thousands around the poignant anniversary.
The display also included a cascade of poppies falling from one wall of the Tower, known as the Weeping Window which was later taken around the country to allow more people a moment of contemplation around it.
(By Oosoom at English Wikipedia – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wiki Commons)
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the installation on October 16th 2014, walking through the ever growing field of remembrance. With the help of a Beefeater, they planted their own tribute amongst the flowers.
Many of the poppies were later sold for £25 each with profits from the sales split between six military charities, COBSEO, Combat Stress, Coming Home, Help for Heroes, Royal British Legion and SSAFA.
In 2022, to mark Her Late Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, the moat at the Tower of London was planted with 20 million wild flowers seeds which became a see of blooms. Among them was a wave of red poppies which flowed around the walls as a replica of this most famous of tributes. Months later, the queue to file past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II during the Lying-in-State reached those same walls just 12 hours after doors were opened over three miles away in Westminster. Many of those who waited by the flowers will have been reminded of Her Late Majesty walking among those poppies on one of the most poignant days of her long reign.
