The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, along with David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn, were given a tour of the imposing Thiepval memorial before taking their seats for the service
11:17, 01 Jul 2016Updated 15:33, 01 Jul 2016
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined thousands of others in France to pay tribute to those who died in the Battle of the Somme.
Prince William and Kate were being given a tour of the visitor centre, which explains how the Battle of the Somme unfolded, before the service.
French and British Army bands massed in front of the building, while nearly 10,000 guests, many of whom have relatives who fought in the Somme, looked on.
The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry also joined Prime Minister David Cameron, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and French President Francois Hollande at the memorial for a service of remembrance in front the huge audience.
Kate was wearing a cream peplum top and and matching pencil skirt with floral print, a black fascinator and black court shoes.
READ MORE: Somme movingly remembered with #wearehere as men in uniform hand out cards carrying names of the dead at UK stations
VIPS, including Kate Middleton and Prince William, gathered at the service(Image: PA)
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attend this morning's service(Image: PA)
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry shelter from the rain(Image: PA)
David Cameron, the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry are also in France to attend the National Commemorative Event at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorial to the Missing in Thiepval.
The Prime Minister and Prince Charles, along with celebrities such as Charles Dance and Sol Campbell, read letters and stories from the memorial steps.
Traditional war time songs such as 'Keep the Home Fires Burning' were played to the crowd.
The Kings troop Royal horse artillery light off the canons during the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme(Image: Getty)
A group of 600 schoolchildren - 300 French and 300 British and Irish - laid wreathes on many some of the war graves.
The national anthems of Great Britain and France were then played as the service came to a close.
The Duchess of Cambridge told schoolchildren she was finding her visit to the Somme "emotional," as she toured the new museum prior to the event,
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry follow French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister David Cameron(Image: PA)
The Duchess of Cambridge looked visibly upset during the emotional tributes(Image: PA)
Kate said the experience had been "very moving" as she met British and French teenagers attending the centenary commemorations at Thiepval, France.
Poppy Hodgson, from Hermitage Academy in Chester-le-Street, and Neave Heaton, from Greenfield School in Durham, presented William and Kate with a binder of art, photography and history work produced by pupils taking part.
Poppy said: "She said it was quite emotional being here and that they were really enjoying their visit. She said it was very moving."
Earlier this morning Britain has fell silent to honour thousands of the nations soldiers killed in the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago.
July 1 1916 was the the bloodiest day in British military history as tens of thousands of British, Commonwealth and French forces went "over the top".
Kate Middleton bows her head at the service in Northern France(Image: PA)
Thousands of people attended this morning's event in Thiepval(Image: PA)
Ceremonies across the United Kingdom today honoured the hundreds of thousands of victims of the brutal offensive which started a century ago.
A two-minute silence ended at 7.30am, the time when troops left the trenches and attempted to cross 'no mans land'.
Images were projected on to the White Cliffs of Dover to mark (Image: )
The Royal Horse Artillery marked the occasion with a 100-second gun salute in remembrance for the fallen on all sides.
And the words "Lest We Forget" and "Battle of the Somme" were among images beamed on to the White Cliffs of Dover in tribute to the fallen.
READ MORE: Brits moved to tears by 'walking ghosts' Somme tribute which 'puts Brexit into perspective'READ MORE: The first day of the Somme - a timeline of how history's bloodiest battle began 100 years ago
The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery fire First World War guns in Parliament Square, London(Image: PA)
The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery after firing First World War guns in Parliament Square(Image: PA)
The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery march after firing First World War guns in Parliament Square, London(Image: PA)
The first day of the Battle of the Somme became the bloodiest in British military history with more than 57,000 casualties recorded - of these 19,240 were fatalities.
Among the worst hit were the "pals" battalions - volunteer units of limited fighting experience.
Many were told to walk slowly across no man's land, resulting in massive numbers of dead as they headed straight into German machine gun fire.
READ MORE: Brits moved to tears by 'walking ghosts' Somme tribute which 'puts Brexit into perspective'More than a million men would be killed or wounded on both sides over the course of the 141-day offensive.
The silence came after a night-long vigil led in Britain by the Queen and at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, which towers over the rolling Picardy fields where so many fell.
The haunting sound of The Last Post was played from the eaves of Westminster Abbey last night as the nation began marking the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.
Wimbledon ground staff stand for a two-minute silence to mark the Battle of the Somme centenary(Image: PA)
A Scottish bagpiper plays next to the Lochnagar Crater, a mine crater created after an English mine exploded(Image: AFP)
People pay their respects Parliament Square, London(Image: PA)
The close of the vigil at the Grave of the Unknown Solider in Westminster Abbey, London(Image: PA)
The Queen attended the moving service and laid a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior in the Abbey before an all night vigil will be held around the tomb - the first in 50 years.
Meanwhile the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry paid their respects in France, attending a vigil at the Thiepval Memorial where 70,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave are commemorated.
The commemorations come on the eve of the beginning of the bloody five-month World War I battle which left more than one million men wounded or killed.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, along with Prince Harry, look out over the fields where the Battle of the Somme took place 100 years ago tonight(Image: Kensington Palace/Twitter)
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry receiving a historical briefing on the battlefields of the Somme (Image: Tim Rooke/PA)
This morning the haunting sound of a trench whistle echoed the command to soldiers to rise from the trenches, marking the exact moment when the battle began.
The Right Reverend Dr Richard Chartres told the Abbey congregation, which included the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and David Cameron that they should strive to reach an accord and reject "those who would stir up hatred and division".
In his address Dr Chartres quoted the famous words of Irishman Thomas Kettle, a nationalist, economist and poet who was an officer with the 9th Royal Dublin Fusiliers and was killed at the Somme.
READ MORE: Navy blows up German U boat from World War I after unexploded torpedo is spottedThe Bishop said: "'Used with the wisdom that is sown in tears and blood, this tragedy of Europe may be and must be the prologue to the two reconciliations of which all statesmen have dreamed; the reconciliation of Protestant Ulster with Ireland and the reconciliation of Ireland with Great Britain.'
"Our prayer must be that with the wisdom sown in blood and tears we may be agents of the reconciliation which is God's will, reconciliation wherever we live or from wherever we come, rejecting those who would stir up hatred and division and instead working for the reconciliation that will ensure that our children will never have to endure what the men of the Somme so bravely endured."
Queen Elizabeth II attends the 30 minute service at Westminster Abbey on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the battle(Image: PA)
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh arrive at Westminster Abbey(Image: PA)
The Duke of Edinburgh arriving at the poignant service in London this evening(Image: WENN.com)
Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh stand for the national anthem(Image: BBC)
The Duke of Cambridge paid tribute during a military vigil at the gigantic Thiepval Memorial to the Missing in northern France.
William, joined by his wife Catherine and brother Prince Harry, spoke of European governments "including our own" who failed to "prevent the catastrophe of world war".
In an address written by Birdsong novelist Sebastian Faulks, William highlighted the almost 60,000 British and Commonwealth casualties of July 1 1916, the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army.
William told the assembled guests: "We lost the flower of a generation; and in the years to come it sometimes seemed that with them a sense of vital optimism had disappeared forever from British life.
"It was in many ways the saddest day in the long story of our nation.
The Duke and Duchess look up as they arrive at the top of the Thiepval monument in France to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme(Image: Tim Rooke/PA)
"Tonight we think of them as they nerved themselves for what lay ahead. We acknowledge the failures of European governments, including our own, to prevent the catastrophe of world war."
Vigils were also held around the country including at the Scottish National War Museum in Edinburgh Castle, the Welsh National War Memorial in Cardiff and Helen's Tower on the Clandeboye Estate in Bangor, Northern Ireland.
The Westminster Abbey service, which started at 8pm and is being televised on BBC2, began with a Bidding from Dean of Westminster, The Very Reverend John Hall.
He said: "Tonight we shall remember the courage and the sacrifice of those preparing to face their enemy, and we shall pray that we may continue to learn the lessons of history to build a world at peace."
In a feat that has never before been attempted musician Lance Sergeant Stuart Laing, 1st Battalion, The Welsh Guards will be strapped in while playing the moving Last Post bugle call more than 100ft up in the Lantern Roof on a bugle sounded at the Somme.
Prince Harry stands with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at a memorial service marking 100 years since the Battle of the Somme in France(Image: BBC)
Flowers are placed on headstones at the Bernafay Wood British cemetery ahead of commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme (Image: REUTERS)
Soldiers' accounts of the battle are due to be read and the service and all night vigil were attended by descendants of the men who fought.
They included Major Iain Macdonald, 52, from Carluke, Scotland, whose great grandfather Pte J Mclean was killed on the first day of the battle and is buried in Serre Road Cemetery No. 2 in northern France.
READ MORE: The first day of the Somme - a timeline of how history's bloodiest battle began 100 years agoHe told the Mirror: "He was in the second wave...ten minutes after the first wave [to go over the top]... I feel a lot of pride and sadness.
"The guys, no matter how far back behind the line they were, they all felt they were part of that one cause."
He said about the importance of remembering: "I think it's very important to remember.
"These were ordinary people, friends, pals first of all before they were soldiers.
"They came together for what they thought was a big adventure and a great cause, not dissimilar to where a lot of people in the reserves join now."
Prime Minister David Cameron arrives with his wife Samantha ahead of the service at Westminster Abbey(Image: Euan Cherry/WENN.com)
Jeremy Corbyn arrives at the service at Westminster Abbey(Image: Euan Cherry/WENN.com)
A service takes place to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey(Image: Sergeant Ross Tilly/MoD Crown)
Five civilians and five members of the military undertake a Vigil at Grave of the Unknown Warrior(Image: Getty Images Europe)
Also participating in the vigil was Sgt Rob Porteous, 48, from Berwick Upon Tweed whose great grandfather, Sgt George Victor Taylor, served with the Tyneside Scottish Brigade and survived the attack on La Boiselle on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
He survived the war and spent the rest of his life working at his local pit in Shilbottle and died in 1960.
Rob said: "Like many people who fought in the First World War he said very little.
"All he ever said if you asked him about the war was that as he was marching to the front in a line of soldiers he saw his brother marching away from the front and they were able to wave to each other."
The 'Grave of the Unknown Warrior' in Westminster Abbey, where a vigil will be held tonight(Image: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
He added: "I'm acutely aware that the kind of mining community where my great grandfather worked, the losses from the Battle of the Somme would have had an enormous impact on those communities for a very long time."
He said about the vigil marking the night before the soldiers went into battle: "It's that camaraderie, the black humour that would have been circulating around the camp areas in the trenches.
"Thinking about what the guys would have been thinking about, who they would have been thinking about.
"There's an awful lot that would have been in people's minds before that particular time."
British troops go over the top of the trenches during the Battle of the Somme, 1916(Image: Getty Images)
Scottish troops advancing in the attack near Arras, during the Battle of the Somme(Image: Getty)
He said the vigil "couldn't be more fitting" as a way of paying tribute to their sacrifice.
The first day of the Battle of the Somme became the bloodiest in British military history with more than 57,000 casualties recorded - of these 19,240 were fatalities.
Among the worst hit were the "pals" battalions, volunteer units of limited fighting experience.
Many were told to walk slowly across no man's land, resulting in massive numbers of dead as they headed straight into German machine gun fire.