Queen Elizabeth marks centenary of burial of Unknown Warrior

It was 97 years ago that her mother, then Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, laid her wedding bouquet on the grave of the Unknown Warrior.

Almost a century later, this poignant gesture cannot have been far from the Queen’s mind as she took part in an intensely personal and emotional service at the sacred tomb in Westminster Abbey, The Telegraph reports.

The monarch paid a private tribute to the fallen during a brief service held at her own request. Returning to London for the first time since March, the Queen, dressed in black and wearing a face mask for the first time, designed by Angela Kelly, was in good spirits, chatting animatedly to the Dean of the Abbey beforehand. Yet as she stood in sombre reflection at the poppy-lined grave in the centre of the cavernous Abbey, the monarch appeared lost in thought as she paid her own tribute, the Telegraph adds.