Queen Camilla was visibly moved at a VJ Day memorial ceremony on Friday as a 105-year-old war veteran paid an emotional, unscheduled tribute to King Charles’s ongoing cancer treatment.
The King and Queen joined Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and 33 veterans, aged between 96 and 105, who served in east Asia and the Pacific. The national service of remembrance, held at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, marked the 80th anniversary of VJ Day on 15 August, commemorating the end of the six-year war.
Yavar Abbas, a former captain in the 11th Sikh Regiment, took to the stage. While scheduled to read extracts from his 1945 Burma diaries, Mr Abbas, originally from Lucknow in India, paused his prepared remarks to address the monarch directly. “I make no apologies for briefly going off the script to salute my brave King, who is here with his beloved Queen in spite of the fact that he is under treatment for cancer,” the centenarian declared.
Camilla looked at her husband sitting next to her and appeared to wipe away a tear. Applause also erupted from the crowd of around 1,500 guests. Mr Abbas, who has battled cancer, added that he hoped his own 25-year remission from the disease would bring “comfort” to the King, offering a shared understanding of the health challenges faced.
He added: “I salute him for gracing this occasion, because by his presence here, he has gone a long way to make sure that his grandad’s Fourteenth Army is never given the sobriquet again of ‘the forgotten army’.”
After the service, the King made his way to the Far East Corner of the arboretum, where he met the grandsons of Second World War soldiers and the great-grandson of General Bill Slim. He viewed tributes at the Burma Railway memorial and took a moment of reflection at the Burma Star Memorial and the Chindit Memorial, before heading to a reception for VJ veterans and their families.
