Kate Middleton and Prince William attend Battle of Passchendaele tribute
- Publish Date
- Monday, 31 July 2017, 2:16PM
Photo / Getty
The Duke of Cambridge has led official commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele.
William spoke at the Menin Gate monument in Ypres, Belgium, as the daily Last Post was played ahead of Monday's centenary of the start of the bloody First World War British assault.
Flanked by the Duchess of Cambridge and Philippe and Mathilde, the King and Queen of the Belgians, he said Britain and Belgium 'stand together' to remember those killed during weeks of heavy fighting in the summer and autumn of 1917.
Watched by some 200 descendants of those who fought, he said: 'Today, the Menin Gate records almost 54,000 names of the men who did not return home; the missing with no known grave.
'Members of our families; our regiments; our nations; all sacrificed everything for the lives we live today.'
He added: 'During the First World War Britain and Belgium stood shoulder to shoulder. One hundred years on, we still stand together, gathering as so many do every night, in remembrance of that sacrifice.'
The Duchess of Cambridge arrived wearing a white Alexander McQueen coat-dress, and wore a white hat by Lock & Co with her hair in a chignon bun.
She accessorised with a pair of grey pumps and matching clutch bag, finishing the look with pearl earrings and a pearl brooch.
She first debuted the McQueen coat-dress at Princess Charlotte's christening, while the Lock & Co hat is a reprisal from her Trooping the Colour appearance in 2015. The Duchess wore a similar outfit when she met the Belgian King and Queen in 2014.
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