Business & Economy

Big Ben chimes again on Remembrance Sunday after three-year restoration

London, Nov 13 (EFE).- London’s emblematic Big Ben clock chimed again after three years of repairs to usher in Remembrance Sunday as the United Kingdom fell silent for two minutes, led by King Charles III, to honor the fallen in past conflicts.

At 11am, the bells of Big Ben chimed 11 times to mark the beginning of the two-minute silence for Remembrance Sunday, an annual event that takes place on the first Sunday after Armistice Day on November 11.

From Sunday onwards, there will be a big bong every hour and smaller chimes every 15 minutes, known as quarter bells, as Londoners welcome the return of the iconic clock.

The huge restoration of the clock tower has lasted five years in total, making it the largest repair project in its 160-year history.

King Charles III presided over Sunday’s solemn ceremony for the first time leading tributes to the British Armed Forces and laying a wreath of poppies at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

Other members of the royal family, including the queen consort, Camilla, and the princes of Wales, William and Catherine, as well as British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and the leader of the opposition Labor Party, Keir Starmer, were also in attendance.

The service, which marked 40 years since the Falklands War, ended with the national anthem God Save the King.

In a prerecorded address, Sunak thanked the UK’s servicemen and women saying: “there are no words to express the debt of gratitude that we owe.”

“On this day, and on every day, we will remember them,” he added.EFE

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