She and Harry placed wooden crosses decorated with poppies and their royal cyphers among the thousands already there. They had been due to be joined by the Duchess of Cornwall but Camilla pulled out of the engagement because of a chest infection. The royal couple, who had left their baby son Archie Harrison at home, arrived two minutes late after their convoy went to the wrong entrance but they made up for it by spending 15 minutes longer than scheduled. 

Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, toured the Abbey grounds where regiments, military associations, and other organisations had laid out 70,000 crosses in more than 360 plots. 

Harry spoke to his late great-grandmother’s former driver Arthur Barty, who was keeping watch over the plot of his former unit, The Black Watch. 

Mr Barty, who drove the Queen Mother for 27 years until her death in 2002, said: “I covered almost 100,000 miles. 

“I never thought for a minute I would meet His Royal Highness or Her Royal Highness but it was an absolute pleasure.” 

The couple also met Brenda Rendell, whose late husband, Richard, was a boy seaman in 1949 who later went on to work as an engineer on the Royal Yacht Britannia. 

Mrs Rendell, whose husband died of asbestos-related illness in 2011, told a delighted Harry how he had built the slide on the yacht played on by his father, Prince Charles, when he was a young boy. 

“I had so hoped to meet him to be able to tell him that story and Harry was so amazed,” she said. 

D-Day veteran 99-year-old William Allen, told the Prince that he would be celebrating his 100th birthday on December 7. 

The Duke told him: “Let me know where the party is and I’ll be there.” 

Mr Allen, from Leyton, east London, served in the Army from 1939 to 1946 and worked as Field Marshal Montgomery’s bodyguard. 

He said of Harry: “What a lovely man. Meeting him was one of the finest experiences of my life.” He also got a hug and a kiss from Meghan, who left a small stain of make-up on his jacket shoulder.

“I’m never washing that,” he chuckled. 

The couple talked to Liz Longman, who lost her uncle, William, at Monte Cassino in 1944. 

“Harry told me that he had been to Monte Cassino and wanted to go again,” she said. “I asked the Duchess how Archie was and she said he was lovely and doing really well.” 

In a touching moment, Harry spotted Harrison Degiorgio-Lewis, nine, and saluted the little boy. 

Harrison was proudly wearing the medals and cap of his uncle, Lieutenant Aaron Lewis of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, who died in Afghanistan on December 15, 2008. 

Harry, who shares the same birthday as Harrison, September 15, has met the little boy before. 

After their meeting, Harrison, from Eastford, Essex, who wants to go into the Army like his uncle, said: “Prince Harry always talks to me and said he liked my name. I’ve been told he may have named his baby after me.”

His grandmother interjected: “Well we aren’t sure, and they are obviously too discreet to say. But they are certainly very lovely to Harrison. It would be very nice if true.” 

The Field of Remembrance has been laid out annually since 1928. 

Source: Read Full Article