Britain's oldest war veterans led the Remembrance Sunday march past at London's Cenotaph yesterday.

The Queen, stoical in black, laid the first wreath in tribute to the fallen. A wreath was also laid on behalf of the embattled Prince of Wales, who was abroad.

A further absentee was the Countess of Wessex, who had an emergency Caesarean section on Saturday night.

But the mounting troubles of the Royal Family were all but forgotten for the parade and march past of 10,000 former servicemen and women and about 1,600 civilians.

First World War veteran Henry Allingham, 107, was joined by Bill Stone, 103, and Norman Robinson, 102, at the head of the Cenotaph march past. The three veterans, driven in an open-top 1911 Austin car, represented Britain's fast diminishing ranks of Great War survivors.

Mr Allingham enlisted in 1915 and served as a naval air mechanic while Mr Stone, a Royal Navy stoker, and Mr Robinson, of the Nottinghamshire Hussars, were both in training when the 1914-1918 war ended.

Leading the nation in two minutes' silence were the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of York, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Kent and Prince Michael of Kent.

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Alexandra and her husband, Sir Angus Ogilvy, and Commodore Timothy Laurence, husband of the Princess Royal, looked on from a balcony in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at Whitehall.

As Big Ben struck 11am, a cannon marked the start of the two-minute tribute.

Central London fell silent, with thousands of people lining the streets around the Cenotaph standing to attention in remembrance of those who died fighting in wars for King and Queen and country.

A second cannon shot, fired on nearby Horse Guards Parade, signalled the end of the silence and buglers of the Royal Marines sounded the Last Post.

The Queen, showing no signs of the problems members of her family are facing, laid her wreath at the foot of the Cenotaph, stepped back and bowed her head.

Next, it was the turn of the Duke of Edinburgh, in naval uniform, to lay a second wreath followed, in order of seniority, by the Duke of York, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Kent and Prince Michael of Kent, all in military uniform.

Prime Minister Tony Blair led the politicians in laying wreaths. Mr Blair was followed by Australia's visiting Prime Minister, John Howard.

It was the first major public appearance for the new Leader of the Opposition, Michael Howard.

Other political leaders included Cabinet members, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, as well as former Prime Ministers Baroness Thatcher and John Major.

But the loudest applause was reserved for the three centenarians.