King Charles and Queen Camilla joined Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at the National Memorial Arboretum on Friday to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day. The service was attended by centenarian veterans, their families, and serving military personnel.

Before the two-minute silence, the King laid a wreath while the Queen placed a posy of flowers at the Armed Forces Memorial. The day followed Charles’ earlier broadcast in which he praised those who “gave us more than freedom – they left us the example of how it can and must be protected.”

But it was an unscheduled moment that left Queen Camilla visibly emotional.

Veteran breaks script to salute the King

Captain Yavar Abbas, 105, who served with the 11th Sikh Regiment of the British Indian Army, had been invited to read from his wartime diaries. Instead, he paused to address the monarch directly.

“Before reading the excerpt, I make an apology for briefly going off the script to salute my brave King, who is here with his beloved Queen in spite of the fact he’s under treatment for cancer,” he said.

The veteran, himself a cancer survivor of 25 years, added that he hoped his words might offer comfort. The tribute drew warm applause from the audience — and seemed to move Camilla to tears, her clasped hands lifting to her face as she blinked away emotion.

Public reaction

Viewers at home also picked up on the poignant moment. “Amazing man at the VJ commemoration just owned it with an off-script tribute to King Charles. Bless him and all of them,” one user wrote on X.

Another said simply: “What an incredible tribute. He grabbed his chance and got applause for his words.”