25 April 2025
Marking Anzac Day 2025 across the Commission
Each year, our sites provide a stunning back drop to Anzac Day events around the world. Traditionally, many gather for a Dawn Service, paying tribute to the Australian and New Zealand war dead commemorated around the world, many in our cemeteries and on our memorials.
Our President, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal visits Gallipoli
Left: Her Royal Highness at the ceremony. Right: Meeting members of our team and other guests
This year, our President, Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, paid tribute to the fallen in Gallipoli, where many ANZAC forces were involved in an ill-fated amphibious landing during the First World War.
Alongside our Director General, Claire Horton CBE, and our Vice-Chairman, Vice Admiral Sir Peter Hudson CB CBE, Her Royal Highness paid tribute to the fallen at the Cape Helles Memorial for the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and Irish.
During the event, our Torch of Peace was walked down the aisle. The Commonwealth War Graves Torch For Peace commemorates the lives of those who fought for our freedoms and peace. Their courage, their fortitude and resilience can inspire us in our lives today.
This was one of multiple stops during a busy visit for Her Royal Highness, as she also paid tribute to the fallen at the Morto Bay French National Cemetery and the Çanakkale Martyrs' Memorial as we mark the 110th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign.
In a particularly touching moment, Her Royal Highness visited the grave of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Doughty-Wylie who is a lone burial, commemorated near Seddulbahir.
Lieutenant Colonel Doughty-Wylie served in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers was posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross for his actions at Gallipoli. Our Patron, His Majesty The King, who is also Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Welsh, provided a wreath card which was laid at the grave.
Our Director General and Vice-Chairman
Anzac services around the world
ANZAC Day is marked by ceremonies and parades across Australia, New Zealand and locations closely linked to the nations’ World War experience globally.
The most famous ANZAC Day event is the Dawn Service. Held at dawn, usually around 4:30 am, at ANZAC war memorials and cemeteries, Dawn Services usually include readings, wreath laying, dedications and the familiar sounding of the Last Post on the Bugle.
Dawn holds special significance on ANZAC Day. It was at this time that ANZAC soldiers first went ashore on 25 April 1915, starting several months of bloody combat on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Dawn services are held by Commonwealth War Graves alongside the Australian and New Zealand armed forces at cemeteries and memorials around the world. The services in Gallipoli are some of the most well-attended outside of Australia and New Zealand, but similar services are also well attended around the world, in France and Belgium, paying tribute to those who fell on the Western Front during the First World War, and in Asia, where many ANZAC troops fought during the Second World War.
Every Story For Evermore
Days of Remembrance, like ANZAC Day, are important reminders of the cost of war and are particularly poignant this year as we mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day and end of the World War 2.
To ensure that the stories of the men and women who lost their lives during the wars are not forgotten, we are taking to the road with the For Evermore Tour. Our mobile exhibitions will be travelling the UK, and this is your chance to take part in an amazing event near you.
Come and see us and explore our interactive exhibition, where you can learn more about our work, the men and women who served in the Second World War, and the civilians who supported the war effort from home.
You can search our records, go on a virtual tour of our sites – read the stories of people from the Commonwealth who we commemorate across the world and much more.
80 years on from the end of the Second World War it's never more important, we know of many incredible stories but there's even more we don’t know. Come and visit us and share your story.