Duke of York’s Royal Military School Remembrance Events

Students and staff from The Duke of York’s Royal Military School, Dover, took part in Remembrance events in London, Kent and Belgium.

Remembrance Sunday saw members of The Dukies’ Association (former students) join current students in a parade at the School’s War Memorial. This year marks the centenary of the Memorial’s dedication. The parade was inspected by Principal Alex Foreman and Mr Simon Daglish assisted by Lieutenant Colonel Mark Ellis, Regimental Sergeant Major Dave Russell and Senior Under Officer and Army Scholar Daisy.

The School’s Royal Military Chapel of St Michael and St George hosted a service where the school Colours were laid upon the altar. The Duke of York's Royal Military School is unique among English schools in that it has the right to carry Colours.

Events began for the School on the previous Monday with the Torch Lighting Ceremony of the British Torch of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey. Students formed a Guard of Honour over the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. The School’s Colour party attended as well as buglers who sounded Last Post and Reveille. Wreaths were laid by the Under Secretary of State for Defence People, Veterans & Families, Rt Hon Andrew Murrison MP and Belgian Embassy Defence Attaché Lieutenant Colonel Bruno Plaetsier during the ceremony which was conducted by Canon John Hawkey.

In the following days, students undertook the British Torch of Remembrance pilgrimage to Belgium. The trip involved Junior Under Officers parading at the Menin Gate and taking part in Remembrance Ceremonies at Roeselare and Bredene along with visiting Tyne Cot to commemorate fallen Dukies.

The second part of the pilgrimage saw a different group of Junior Under Officers travelling to Brussels to take part in the Gare Centrale Ceremonial Parade which takes place annually to welcome The British Torch to Brussels. The King’s Parade at the Tomb of The Belgian Unknown Soldier at the Colonne du Congres took place on 11^th November. This special parade marked the centenary of the dedication of the Unknown Soldier’s Tomb. The Junior Under Officers had the privilege of parading with Belgian Army, Navy, Air and Police Cadets. Later in the day, at a private ceremony at the Waterloo Memorial in Brussels cemetery, they laid wreaths in memory of two Dukies who were killed at Waterloo in 1815.

The Torch was extinguished later that evening in a short but poignant ceremony at the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier. It will be rekindled at Westminster Abbey in November 2023.

On Saturday evening, the school hosted 200 former students in the Dining Hall for The Dukies’ Association’s Annual Reunion Dinner.