The Consul-General laid a wreath at the Memorial Cross in the historic British Cemetery on behalf of the Kingdom of Tonga, honouring those who lost their lives during the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts.
The Pacific was also represented by HE Dr Helen Cheney, Ambassador of Australia to Portugal. The Ambassadors of Ireland, Belgium, Bangladesh, Malta, Ukraine and Nigeria also attended, alongside Military Attachés, Portuguese veterans and other official representatives.
The ceremony included the Last Post, a period of silence and the Alvorada, the Portuguese equivalent of Reveille. Inside the church, Margot Walker Dias read John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields, while pupils from eight schools led prayers. The service concluded with the Portuguese and British National Anthems.
In Tonga, HRH Crown Princess Sinaitakala Tukuʻaho presided over Remembrance Sunday commemorations at the national Cenotaph in Nukuʻalofa, laying a wreath in memory of the fallen. The ceremony was attended by the Ambassadors and High Commissioners resident in Tonga, alongside senior representatives of the Government, Armed Forces, National Assembly, public institutions, other dignitaries and the general public.
Tonga supported the Allied cause during both World Wars, with its servicemen serving alongside other British and Commonwealth forces. Among those remembered were Corporal Sione Taliaʻuli, who served with the Māori Pioneer Battalion and died in 1918, and Second Lieutenant Heneli Taliai, killed in action in the Solomon Islands in 1943. Both are commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Further Armistice Day commemorations scheduled for 11 November in Portugal were cancelled due to severe weather associated with Storm Charles.
Lest we forget.
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