The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh led the nation in observing two minutes of silence today before a memorial service to mark the passing of the First World War generation.

A year ago, the last three Great War veterans living in the UK each laid wreaths at the Cenotaph as Britain marked the 90th anniversary of the moment when the guns fell silent on the Western Front.

William Stone died in January aged 108, followed in July by Henry Allingham, 113, and Harry Patch, 111. Only 108-year-old Claude Choules, who lives in a nursing home in Western Australia, remains of Britain's Great War veterans.

This year's memorials have focused on the sacrifices of the current generation as they tackle an increasingly lethal insurgency in Afghanistan, where British soldiers serving in Helmand Province observed their own Armistice Day silence at 11am local time - five hours ahead of the UK.

Lieutenant-Colonel David Wakefield, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: “Operations here in Helmand must continue at full tempo despite it being Armistice Day. Wherever it is safe and operationally practical to do so, our soldiers, sailors and airmen will mark the two-minute silence and in some locations there will be small parades, but for many soldiers it will be business as usual.”

Back home, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were joined by political and military leaders for a ceremony at Westminster Abbey focused clearly on the sacrifices of an earlier generation.

The Very Rev Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster, opened the service by recalling the moment exactly 91 years ago when the guns fell silent in Europe and the moment two days later when an unknown warrior was chosen at random to represent all those who died and accorded the honour of a state funeral.

He added: "His grave was to become the focus of our national remembrance and to have international significance. Now that the last of his comrades in arms has gone to his eternal rest, we are here once more to remember.

"We remember, with grief, the gas and the mud, the barbed wire, the bombardment, the terror, the telegram; and, with gratitude, the courage and sacrifice. Never again, they said; the war to end all wars. With resolution we remember."

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, and the Duchess of Gloucester, patron of the World War One Veterans Association, were among the British and foreign dignitaries at the service. The head of the Armed Forces, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, attended alongside the chiefs of staff of the Royal Navy, the Army, and the Royal Air Force.

The beginning and end of the two-minute silence was marked by gunfire from the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, fired from Horse Guards Parade.

Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, who was among the congregation, paid tribute to those who fought in the First World War. He said: "The war left an enduring impact on those who survived. They were determined that the sacrifices made by those who lost their lives would never be forgotten. Today we join together as a nation to honour that promise, and we will always do so."

Sir Jock added: "During the First World War the British military lost some two-thirds of a million dead - nearly 20,000 of those on just one day at the Battle of the Somme. These are numbers that are all but incomprehensible to us today. The total amounted to almost one in every 50 people in the land - hardly a community was untouched.

"Such sacrifice must never be forgotten, and today is an important part of that ongoing remembrance".

In a sermon, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams described the First World War as a "huge collective bereavement". Dr Williams praised the achievement of the 1914/18 generation in repairing some of the "shattered idealism" that characterised the post-war period.

He said: "Some, at least, of those who tried to make sense of where God had been in all this realised that losing the safe, problem-solving God who protected nations and empires might itself be a gift, a moment of truth that brought the reality of God closer, recognised or not."

The Archbishop used his sermon to warn of the "readiness to forget the hard lessons learned by those who had been on the front line" that was prevalent in the 20th century.

He concluded: "The generation that has passed walked forward with vision and bravery, and held together the bonds of our society, our continent, our Commonwealth, through a terrible century. May we learn the lessons they learned, and God save us from learning them in the way they had to."

During the service the Queen placed a poppy wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Warrior. The ring of scarlet flowers was carried through the Abbey by Victoria Cross holders Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry and Trooper Mark Donaldson.

A Union Flag used to cover the bodies of the fallen during the First World War hung over the tomb. The "Padre’s flag", as it is sometimes known, was flown daily on the Western Front and draped over makeshift altars at countless religious services, including before the Battle of the Somme, when the altar was a bucket turned on end in the corner of an old trench.

But it was also used by Army chaplain Reverend David Railton to cover hundreds of those killed in action before their burial in shallow graves.

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