Crown dependencies and Overseas territories lay Remembrance wreaths at Cenotaph for first time
Representatives of the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories have laid wreaths for the first time at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph (Sunday 10th November 2019).
This year a representative from each of the three Crown Dependencies and representatives for the inhabited Overseas Territories laid their own wreaths in remembrance of their many contributions in both World Wars and other conflicts.
The Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories have previously been represented by the wreaths laid by Her Majesty The Queen and the Foreign Secretary respectively.
The change comes at an especially poignant time as this year marks the 100th Anniversary of Remembrance Sunday and has also seen the addition of other new wreaths, including from Nepal to honour the Gurkhas, and by the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary who laid wreaths on behalf of the Intelligence Agencies.
The three Crown Dependencies were the Bailiwick of Guernsey, the Bailiwick of Jersey, and the Isle of Man.
The inhabited Overseas Territories represented were Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Governor Martyn Roper said:
“In January 1916 around 300 Caymanians signed up voluntarily to the British Merchant Navy. The Cayman Islands Government will now join the rest of the UK family to commemorate the sacrifices made by those Caymanian recruits as they defended our freedom, way of life and democracy. We must never take their sacrifices for granted. Being included in such an important ceremonial event is an honour.”
Notes
– Thousands of men and women from the Crown Dependencies and the UK’s Overseas Territories served in the World Wars and other conflicts
– The Channel Islands were forced to endure Nazi occupation during the Second World War.
– Life on the Isle of Man was transformed by the internment of thousands of civilians and prisoners of war.
