Princess Kate looked solemn as she paid her respects to fallen heroes at the annual Anzac Day memorial.

The Princess of Wales attended the wreath-laying ceremony and parade at the Cenotaph in Westminster, central London, on Saturday morning, UK time, The Sun reports.

Anzac Day was first established to commemorate the 1915 Gallipoli landing of Australian and New Zealand troops during the First World War.

It honours the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who have served and died in all wars and conflicts.

The service has been observed in London since King George V first attended at Westminster Abbey in 1916.

Kate wore a poppy on her lapel and paid her respects alongside the High Commissioner for New Zealand, Hamish Cooper.

The Princess of Wales is also expected to attend a service at Westminster Abbey later on Saturday.

The Princess Royal had earlier attended a Dawn Service at Wellington Arch in central London to mark Anzac Day.

Princess Anne arrived for the service – organised by the New Zealand and Australian High Commissions – shortly before it started at 5am.

Anne laid a wreath during a service that included a reading of the John McCrae poem In Flanders Fields.

She was joined by members of the military at the New Zealand Memorial on Hyde Park Corner.

It concluded with the national anthems of the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

Services were also held across New Zealand, Australia and Gallipoli today.

It was also marked in Villers-Bretonneux, a village in the Somme region of France, which Australian units helped defend during the First World War.

A post on the Royal Family social media account this morning also paid tribute to the fallen heroes.

It read: “Today is #ANZACDay – which honours the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.”

Earlier this week, Kate hugged a tearful George Cross hero as the Royal Family united in memory of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Princess of Wales embraced ex-Met Police hero Tony Gledhill who won the award in 1966 after chasing down and capturing gun-toting crooks.

Tony, one of 190 special guests invited to the memorial party, was emotional as he told Kate his wife had recently passed away.

But as Kate held his arms warmly and shared an embrace, he told her his wife’s dying wish for him to attend the palace bash.

Kate gave him a hug and held his hands and said: “We’ll keep in touch, you must, if you want to? Writing? Will you keep in touch? Please do.”

Tony, 88, said afterwards: “She was fantastic.”

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission.

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