Remembering our war dead is an important part of the "job" of the Monarch, as the representative of us all, and was something that Her Majesty always did with great dignity and gravitas. Standing in the centre of Whitehall in the shadow of The Cenotaph each Remembrance Sunday she led the nation in person almost every year of her reign. A diminutive figure in black, red poppies pinned to her lapel, she laid the first wreath of the day during the simple solemn ceremony attended by thousands of members of the public in the street, and watched by millions on television, as the veterans marched in memory of their fallen comrades.

I also saw The Queen attend the Field of Remembrance outside St Margaret's Church at Westminster Abbey, and will never forget seeing her standing in front of us, and the single tear that ran down her face when she attended to plant her own poppy and officially open the field in 2002, following the death of The Queen Mother whose domain this had been for many years. That was an extremely moving moment to witness, and I felt privileged to be there.