LONDON, Nov 9: Queen Elizabeth II, her husband the Duke of Edinburgh and her eldest son Prince Charles on Saturday led members of the royal family at a public tribute to Britain's war dead at the annual Festival of Remembrance.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie were also in the royal box for the traditional evening of military bands and elaborate and emotional displays.

The ceremony was attended by thousands at London's Royal Albert Hall, and millions more across the nation watched television coverage of the event.

The festival culminated as always in a two-minute silence as thousands upon thousands of poppy petals drifted down on the audience. On Monday comes the second and most solemn of the great silences of the annual remembrance, when the Queen and other members of the royal family assemble with political leaders at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

After they have laid wreaths in memory of the nation's war dead, more than 10,000 veterans will march past the spot in a ceremony familiar to generations.

Similar but smaller ceremonies will be attended by civic leaders and local veterans in towns and villages across the country.

The final two-minute silence comes on Tuesday, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the exact time the guns fell silent at the end of World War I in 1918. In a controversial move, Outrage, a gay and lesbian rights organisation, is calling on homosexuals to join its Queen Remembrance Day march to the Cenotaph in memory of gays and lesbians who died on the battlefield.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.