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Joined also by the Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of Cambridge, The
Queen and the King of the Belgians will both lay wreaths after
prayers at the memorial.
With the ‘sacred soil’ taken from 70 different battlefields of the
First World War, each with the support of the Commonwealth War
Graves Commission and collected by Belgian and British school
children (several of whom will attend the opening event on
Thursday), the ceremony will be supported by the Band of the
Grenadier Guards and State Trumpeters from the Household Cavalry
providing the musical accompaniment for the events. Representatives
from each of the seven regiments of the Household Division will
also lay wreaths at the new memorial.
Designed by Belgian architect Piet Blanckaert, the memorial carries
the insignia of all the seven regiments of the Household
Division.
The Major General commanding the Household Division, Edward
Smyth-Osbourne, explained, “the Foot Guards Regiments are made up
of Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards
and Welsh Guards and so represent all four nations of the United
Kingdom.
“Taken with the two Mounted Regiments from the Household Cavalry,
the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals, they also represent both
cavalry and infantry. In the same way that these seventy sandbags
of soil represent all the battlefields of Flanders, these seven
regiments represent all the British Expeditionary Forces to who
gave their lives for our freedom.”
As well as the thought which has gone into the insignia on the
memorial, the surrounding garden’s design has also been thoroughly
considered by the designers. Designed to be a “quiet place of
reflection and contemplation”, the memorial is also full of hidden
meaning and symbolism. The first level of soil, for
example, is shaped as a rectangle – alluding to
the cemeteries of the war dead.
On top of it is a circular soil bed, representing eternity as a
victory over death. The circular shape also refers to the opening
in the roof of the Menin Gate in Ypres, from which every year on 11
November poppies rain down. The garden contains a bench made
from Flemish Bluestone too, plus trees indigenous to the
battlefields of Flanders.
After the ceremony, Prince William will join King Philippe
from Belgium at a reception on the forecourt of the Barracks –
once The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh have departed – hosting
300 guests who have donated their time or money to the
creation of the memorial garden.
Last year, Prince Philip joined Prince Laurent from Belgium at
Menin Gate in Ypres for the Last Post ceremony on Armistice day.
There, British troops from the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery
filled sandbags with the sacred soil which would eventually be
transported back to England to form the Flanders Field Memorial at
Wellington Barracks.
The Menin Gate is the official Memorial to missing British and
Commonwealth soldiers killed in the Ypres Salient and whose
final resting place is unknown.
Wellington Barracks is just a stone’s throw away from Buckingham
Palace and is where soldiers and officers who usually form The
Queen’s guard at Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace are based.
Along with the Guards Museum and Guards Chapel in the Barracks, the
new memorial will form part of the publicly accessible parts of the
home of the Household Division.
Guards Museum Curator Andrew Wallis said: ”If you would like to
help us raise the funds for the upkeep of this powerful
commemorative memorial or find out more, please go to the project
website where you can find a number of ways in which you can get
involved: www.flandersfieldappeal.com”
Photo credits: Ed.ward and © Crown Copyright
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