Buckingham Palace to commemorate 25th anniversary of 9/11

Buckingham Palace will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

The Royal Family will honour all those who died and were affected by the attacks during the Changing of the Guard.

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will attend the special Changing of the Guard with the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Warren Stephens, on the morning of 11 September. Their Royal Highnesses will take the Royal Salute in the Buckingham Palace forecourt.

Around 40 invited guests will attend the ceremony, composed of both American and British nationals.

The Band of the Coldstream Guards will perform The Thunderer and The Stars and Stripes Forever while marching to Buckingham Palace.

During the forecourt ceremony, both the American and British national anthems will be played. They will also perform Hymn to the Fallen (from Saving Private Ryan) and Amazing Grace.

Following the devastating attacks on Tuesday, 11 September 2001, in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania, the late Queen Elizabeth II requested that the US national anthem be played at the Changing of the Guard on Thursday, 13 September, in memory of the victims. The Band of the Coldstream Guards performed the anthem with many Americans watching and crying through the palace gates.

Orchestrated by Osama bin Laden and the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda, four passenger aeroplanes were hijacked on the morning of 11 September 2001. Two crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York (causing a later collapse of both towers) and one into the Pentagon in Washington. The fourth plane, United 93, was headed toward D.C. before heroic passengers overpowered the hijackers. The plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, saving countless lives. In total, 2,977 innocent people were killed in the coordinated attacks, and another 10,000+ were injured.