King Charles is marking the 80th VJ Day with a trip down memory lane!
On the milestone 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day, Friday, August 15, the British monarch’s Royal Collection Trust shared a joint Instagram post with the Royal Family, unveiling rare photos from the Royals’ 1945 VJ Day archives.
The first image featured Charles’s grandfather, King George VI, on the Buckingham Palace balcony with the Queen Mother and their daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, waving to the jubilant public in celebration of the victory.
Meanwhile, the second slide showed the Royals attending a Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
“A moment of national celebration. On this day 80 years ago, vast crowds gathered before Buckingham Palace for the Victory over Japan (VJ) Day celebrations, marking the end of the Second World War,” captioned the trust.
They continued, “King George VI recorded in his diary that they “went out to the Balcony 6 times during the afternoon & evening”, large crowds having amassed outside Buckingham Palace by 10am.”
“On 19 August 1945, a Service of Thanksgiving was held at St Paul’s Cathedral, which was attended by the Royal Family. Today, The King and Queen will join the nation in Remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum,” the post concluded.
For the unversed, VJ Day is commemorated on August 15 each year to mark the surrender of Japan in front of the Allied forces, ending the Second World War.
