The Duchess of Edinburgh has paid tribute to fallen cavalry soldiers at a parade and memorial service in Hyde Park. Sophie, who serves as the Royal Colonel of the Queen’s Own Yeomanry, wore the regiment’s running fox cap badge as she attended the event on Sunday morning.
The duchess laid wreaths at the Cavalry of the Empire Memorial, which the parade marched past, 102 years after the monument was first unveiled. The ceremony, organised by the Combined Cavalry Old Comrades Association, commemorates members of UK and Commonwealth cavalry regiments who fell in the First World War and subsequent conflicts.
Both serving and former soldiers of the Regular Cavalry and Yeomanry regiments took part in the parade. Representatives from Commonwealth countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, Pakistan and South Africa also attended. The Indian Cavalry Association, though disbanded, was represented by its banner.
Following the parade, the duchess attended an open-air church service at the Bandstand, conducted by the Chaplain General, Reverend Michael Parker. The Cavalry of the Empire Memorial, originally inaugurated at Stanhope Gate in 1924 by Field Marshal John French, Earl of Ypres, was moved to its current location in 1961. The statue is cast from metal obtained from enemy guns captured by the Cavalry during the First World War and depicts St George, the patron saint of cavalry regiments.
