VE Day 2025: What are the four-day celebrations to mark 80th anniversary?
Street parties, concerts and a military flypast are just some of the ways the country is marking the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day.
Victory in Europe Day – to give it its full name – marks the end of the Second World War in Europe on 8 May 1945, when the Allies accepted the surrender of Nazi Germany.
Four days of celebrations, which have been organised by the government, began on Monday 5 May and will run until Thursday 8 May.
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A military procession and flypast took place in central London on Bank Holiday Monday, with other events including 2,500 beacons being lit across the UK, still to come.
Britons have also been urged to gather together in streets, gardens, town halls, clubs and pubs, similar to how people marked the end of nearly six years of war 80 years ago.
Here is everything you need to know about the celebrations and how to get involved.
Monday 5 May
Military procession and flypast
VE Day celebrations were kicked off outside Parliament Square in central London on Monday.
Here, actor Timothy Spall recited Winston Churchill’s famous VE Day speech, in which he said: “My dear friends, this is your hour.
“This is not victory of a party or of any class. It’s a victory of the great British nation as a whole.”
Just after 12pm, D-Day veteran Alan Kennett formally gave the commander of the military procession made up of 1,300 members of the UK Armed Forces, uniformed services, and young people permission to start, as air cadet officers stood beside him.
The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment and The King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery led the procession from Parliament Square down Whitehall.
The route took them past the Cenotaph, which was draped in a Union Jack flag, up to Trafalgar Square, under Admiralty Arch and down the Mall towards the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace.
The King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children and the prime minister, were among those who joined Second World War veterans to watch the military procession.
The Royal Family then took to the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch a flypast of military aircraft before the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows painted the skies red, white and blue.
Street parties
Various street parties, barbecues and community events were also held on Bank Holiday Monday to mark VE Day.
In Buckingham Palace, the King and Queen hosted a tea party for veterans and members of the Second World War generation.
William and Kate also joined the party as veterans and senior politicians enjoyed a selection of finger sandwiches, soup and homemade scotch eggs in the Marble Hall.
An afternoon tea street party was also hosted on HMS Belfast, the most significant surviving Second World War warship, before also putting on an evening party, with talks from keynote speakers.
Elsewhere around the country, highlights included an open-air music festival in Witton Park, Blackburn, complete with fairground rides, inflatables, stalls and food, a VE Day picnic in the Shropshire town of Caven Arms and a performance of wartime music by the Wrentham Brass Band in Norfolk.
In the South and South East of England, the Fort Amherst Heritage Trust in Chatham hosted tours of the Napoleonic fort with music, food and drink, while Winston Churchill’s family home, Chartwell in Kent, held family activities and live music.
In the Welsh village of Myddfai, nestled in the Brecon Beacons, there was a street party, with attendees invited to bring food, dress in 1940s-style clothing and sing along to wartime songs.
Tuesday 6 May
An installation of 30,000 ceramic poppies will return to the Tower of London for the VE Day anniversary.
The ornaments – which will be viewed by the Queen when they go on display – were originally made in 2014 as part of the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation, which marked 100 years since Britain’s involvement in the First World War.
The latest installation, overseen by designer Tom Piper, will feature tens of thousands of the original ceramic poppies on loan from the Imperial War Museum, as a way to “mark and reflect on the sacrifices made by so many during the Second World War”.
A small part of the poppy installation will be visible to the public for free, with the main installation located inside the grounds of the Tower. It will remain in place until 11 November to mark Armistice Day.
Historic landmarks across the UK will also be lit up on the evening of the 6 May, which you can watch on Sky News with live helicopter shots capturing the scenes.
Wednesday 7 May
In the evening of 7 May, an anniversary concert will take place in Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster.
It will mark 80 years since a newsflash told the nation that the next day would be known as Victory Day.
The Parliament Choir will perform pieces of classic music from across Europe and America, with the addition of special guests.
Thursday 8 May
Events planned to mark VE Day itself will kick off with a service in Westminster Abbey, with 1,800 people invited to attend including the King and Queen, veterans, politicians and charities.
At midday, a two minutes silence will be held across all UK government buildings and departments, with other organisations invited to follow suit.
In the afternoon, the Royal British Legion, a UK-based charity that supports veterans, will host a private tea party for Second World War veterans and their families.
It will take place at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire and aims to include veterans who live in the North of England and cannot travel to events in London.
The tea party is expected to attract a large crowd, if not the largest group of Second World War veterans at a VE Day event, and you can watch live coverage of it on Sky News.
In County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, there will be a parade of 80 pipers and drummers along Church Street in Enniskillen.
Pubs will also be allowed to stay open for an extra two hours on 8 May, meaning people will be able to raise a glass until 1am to mark the end of the four-day celebration.
Concerts and film premiere
The government’s VE Day programme of events will conclude with a concert at Horse Guards Parade between 8pm and 10pm on 8 May.
The concert will feature “stars of the stage and screen” as well as performances from military musicians, readings and poignant moments that will tell the story of VE Day and the nation’s reaction to the end of the Second World War.
More than 12,500 people are expected to attend the event, including the King and Queen, as well as 2,500 young people made up of Duke of Edinburgh ambassadors, Commonwealth scholars and representatives from youth groups.
Meanwhile, from 7.30pm at the Royal Albert Hall, the Armed Forces charity SSAFA will host VE Day 80: The Party.
This will feature The RAF Squadronaires, part of the central band of the Royal Air Force, who will perform 1940s songs, and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, who will perform the nation’s best-loved classical anthems.
A new short film by the National Theatre will also be released on 8 May.
The Next Morning, written by stage and screenwriter James Graham, will feature award-winning actors Julian Glover, Sian Phillips, and Joseph Mydell and will take viewers through a series of stories exploring intergenerational perspectives on the end of the war.
Bringing the day to an end, 2,500 beacons will be lit across the UK. The fires will be ignited around 9pm, including on the River Thames at London’s Tower Bridge, in Folkstone, Kent, Bridport in Dorset, Fairhaven Lake and Gardens in Lancashire and Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
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Friday 9 – Sunday 11 May
Community events around the country will continue into the weekend, although these have not been officially organised by the government.
On the Friday night, there will be a 1940s style dance in Wouldham, Rochester, with a hog roast, a 1940s wartime band and authentic Second World War jeep.
On 10 May in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, there will be a community concert by the band, bugles, pipes and drums of The Royal Irish Regiment at St Macartin’s Cathedral.
In Glasgow on 10 May, there will be a church service at the Veterans Memorial Garden on Baldwin Avenue, followed by a veterans parade. This will finish at the Lincoln Inn where there will be a buffet, music and raffle.
In the Yorkshire village of Catton, there will be a vintage-themed day featuring Second World War memorabilia and vehicles. A similar event is also set to take place in Keelby village hall, in Lincolnshire.