The pageantry was all the more poignant, coming so soon after the atrocities. As the Queen yesterday placed a wreath on the slate memorial outside Westminster Abbey to all victims of violence and oppression, the link with the terrorist bombings was made explicit. The prayers and dedication recalled the home front during the Second World War — and the home front that today is challenged by terrorism. From there the Queen entertained veterans to lunch, marked two minutes’ silence for those who died in conflict, witnessed a parade and a fly-past and took the chance to speak to the country and for the country about these important commemorations.

The decision to go ahead yesterday with the ceremonies marking both VE and VJ Day was not only right; its importance was tragically underlined to all those too young to remember those conflicts by what happened in London on Thursday. The prayers, the words and the parades reminded people still stunned by the bombings that a stoic refusal to be cowed, a determination to carry on and a cheerfulness amid the wreckage were what helped Londoners through the Blitz. Two generations ago the city endured bombings, almost every day for five long years.

There is also something comforting in ritual. The words have been honed by tradition, the music reverberates within the soul of almost every Briton. Guide me, O thou great Redeemer rang out in Westminster Abbey, as the cameras panned across the bemedalled chests of heroes now grown old in years who movingly remembered comrades who did not grow old and whom the years did not condemn. Today’s commanders, with fewer medals but also charged with defending the realm, paid tribute to their seniors. The bells pealed. And later, outside, the aircraft took to the skies one more time, as the Queen stepped out on the same balcony where her parents had acknowledged the ecstatic crowds at the moment of triumph 60 years ago.

Victory in Europe and Japan was long ago, and is now the stuff of GCSE history. It was right to celebrate Europe and Asia’s liberation one more time, while the dwindling number of veterans are still alive to hear the gratitude that can never be properly paid. Yesterday, for most of the nation, was a beautiful summer’s day — weather that recalled the summer when pilots fought and won the Battle of Britain or when, a year earlier, Chamberlain had announced that “ consequently, this country is at war with Germany”.

But it was also right that Britons made the most of the fine weather. The events of the past week tested the national spirit; confronting them does not dictate an end to those summer pursuits that refresh enthusiasm. People took to the sea. Others watched or played cricket. Others again visited historic homes and gardens, more aware, perhaps, of the values that underpinned their settled tranquillity because of the ugly attempts to spread fanaticism and kill the values of tolerance and gentleness.

Prayers have been said in churches, mosques and synagogues throughout Britain this weekend. They have put into words the grief and perplexity that the attacks have caused, and have asserted the primacy of our values, faith and democracy. So it was in Britain through the Second World War. The men and women honoured yesterday risked all for their beliefs and their fellow countrymen. Like their fallem comrades, they will not be forgotten.