The nation has fallen silent to honour those who have lost their lives in conflict exactly 103 years after the end of the First World War.

From 11am, people across the UK observed a two-minute silence to mark Armistice Day.

Each year, the two-minute silence marks the end of the four-year conflict in 1918 where an agreement between Germany and the Allies was made “on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month”.

The Duchess of Cornwall was at the 93rd Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey, which has been held in the grounds of the Abbey since November 1928.

The Field of Remembrance fell silent at 11am with Camilla and hundreds of veterans from past conflicts standing motionless as the chimes of Big Ben rang out.

Moments before, the Dean of Westminster Dr David Hoyle had said prayers before those gathered and the Last Post sounded.

In Staffordshire, a service of remembrance took place at the National Memorial Arboretum on top of the Armed Forces Memorial, featuring readings, musical performances and wreath laying.

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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has laid a wreath at the war memorial outside Euston Station in London.

The two-minute silence was also marked at the Scottish Parliament and by COP26 President Alok Sharma at the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and others also stood in silence at the UK pavilion at COP26 on Thursday morning.

Holyrood’s Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone led the two-minute silence in the Scottish Parliament alongside opposition leaders and Deputy First Minister John Swinney.

Prior to the silence, Ms Johnstone read a short extract from Laurence Binyon’s Ode of Remembrance before The Last Post was played by a bugler.

Standing on the steps of parliament’s garden lobby, Ms Johnstone then recited the Kohima Epitaph before SNP MSP played the flowers of the forest folk song on the bagpipes.

A single gun fired at 11am from Edinburgh Castle, with members of the armed forces community joining local government officials for a wreath-laying ceremony at the Edinburgh Garden of Remembrance in Princes Street Gardens.

Rev Dr Karen Campbell, the Royal British Legion Scotland’s National Padre, is leading the open-air service including the reading of Binyon’s Lines and the Kohima Epitaph.

Wreaths are to be laid by Deputy Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, councillor Joan Griffiths and representatives from Legion Scotland, Poppyscotland and Veterans Scotland.

The ceremony also marks the centenary of the Royal British Legion Scotland.

Armistice Day was disrupted last year and many remembered the nation’s war dead from their homes as they were encouraged to stay there to stop the spread of coronavirus.

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