Queen Camilla plants ceramic poppy at Tower of London

Queen Camilla has planted a ceramic poppy at the Tower of London.

Hers will be one of nearly 30,000 ceramic poppies on display at the Tower of London to mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe. The poppies have been displayed to resemble a sort of cascading wound at the White Tower, which suffered bombing damage during the war.

The artwork is named The Tower Remembers and was designed by Tom Piper, while the poppies themselves were made and designed by Paul Cummins.

Some of the poppies date from 2014, when the Tower hosted an installation of 888,246 poppies – one for each of the military lives lost during the First World War.

Tom Piper said earlier that the scale of the 2014 installation, named Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, could never be repeated, but that he came to learn “smaller installations could still carry great emotional power”. He said. “Everywhere these poppies have been, they have brought people together, with their own stories of sacrifice, commemoration, and hope for the future. They have much to say about the universality of war and the anguish of suffering and loss.”

The display will remain in place until Armistice Day on 11 November.