No Royal invite for D-Day events
Updated on 28 May 2009
No member of the Royal Family will attend the D-Day commemorations next week after France failed to extend an invite.
French officials insisted she was welcome and blamed the UK Government for deciding who should attend what they said was "primarily a Franco-American ceremony".
A French government spokesman said: "It is not up to France to determine the British representation."
A spokeswoman for the Palace responded by saying: "Neither the Queen nor any other members of the royal family will be attending the D-Day commemorations on June 6 as we have not received an official invitation to any of these events.
"We would like to reiterate that we have never expressed any sense of anger or frustration at all, and are content with all the arrangements that are planned."
During the last landmark anniversary of the Allied invasion, the 60th in 2004, the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales joined British VIPs for commemoration events in France.
Now it appears Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be the senior figure representing Britain for the events marking the 65th anniversary, joining US president Barack Obama and French president Nicholas Sarkozy in marking the event on June 6.
Peter Hodge, secretary of the Normandy Veterans Association, said having the Queen present would have been "the icing on the cake" for his members.
British veterans will hold their main memorial event at the Arromanches landing beaches, where thousands of troops poured ashore on June 6, 1944 and during the following days.
And D-Day veteran John Painter, 84, said the Royal Family was "very important" to the forces and would be greatly missed at the official commemorations.
Speaking from Normandy, in northern France, the former deputy headmaster from York said: "As a soldier you do feel you are serving the Queen - the Royals are important figures and are extremely supportive of the military.
"Their absence will of course be noted."
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