Queen Camilla shares special video message to mark Armed Forces Day with personal touch
Queen Camilla has said she is a "proud daughter of an Army Officer" as she hailed servicemen and women in a video message marking Armed Forces Day.
Queen Camilla, whose father Major Bruce Shand served in the Army for a decade and earned two Military Crosses, praised servicemen and women as a “source of inspiration, reassurance and pride” for the nation in a video message to mark Armed Forces Day.
Wearing her Royal Lancers brooch - her late father’s Regiment and the military unit she serves as Colonel in Chief, the Queen paid tribute to the efforts of the military, in the face of "challenges and dangers" that not only safeguard the UK "but also defend liberties way beyond these shores".
The rare national statement also struck a personal chord, as she said: "As the proud daughter of an Army officer, I know something of the impact military life has on your loved ones - you too are heroes.
"In times of war and in times of peace, whether seen or unseen, our Armed Forces support and strengthen our nation. You are a source of inspiration, reassurance and pride - and I salute you all."
Wearing her royal blue Fiona Clare dress that she wore in her official Coronation portrait, the Queen appeared teary-eyed as she delivered her message to the nation.
A new photograph of the King wearing his Field Marshal uniform has also been released to mark Armed Forces Day, which is held annually on the last Saturday of June for the country to show its support for veterans, service families, cadets and those still serving.
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The picture was taken in the Grand Corridor at Windsor Castle by Hugo Burnand - who took Their Majesties Coronation portraits - last November, before his cancer diagnosis.
He is wearing a host of decorations, including the collar of the Most Noble Order of the Garter with the Sovereign’s Greater George, the sash of the Royal Victorian Order, the Royal Victorian Chain and his medal bar.
His Field Marshal cap, white gloves and Field Marshal baton are on the table to his right, while he holds a sword in his left hand.
In her video, Camilla thanked the men and women of the Armed Forces for "everything you do to protect this country of ours" and remembered those who made the "ultimate sacrifice" in the pursuit of world peace.
Earlier this month the King and Queen joined world leaders on the beaches of Normandy on to mark the 80th anniversary of the Second World War D-Day landings, and Camilla remembered the "incredible bravery" of the forces that liberated Europe from Hitler's regime.
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The message was recorded in Clarence House's morning room that featured a picture of the Queen's parents on their wedding day, January 2 1946, with her mother, then Rosalind Cubitt, posing with her father Major Bruce Shand outside St Paul's Church in Knightsbridge, London.
Major Shand served in the Second World War and won the Military Military Cross during the retreat to Dunkirk in 1940 and again at El Alamein in North Africa in 1942, when he was captured by retreating German forces.
It is not convention for the sovereign or consort to mark Armed Forces Day, but it is understood that the Queen wanted to do so due to her personal connections to the Forces.
The late Queen Elizabeth marked the first Armed Forces Day in 2009 and again in 2010 and 2020.
Princes William and Harry released a joint message in 2009, while the King marked it for the first time as monarch last year.
