THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE will line the streets of London today as four days of commemorations begin to mark eighty years since the end of the Second World War in Europe.

A military parade, street parties and a balcony appearance by the royal family are all planned for today, with pubs and bars granted permission to stay open for longer to mark the occasion. 

In London, Nato allies will join 1,300 members of the armed forces for a procession, and the words of Sir Winston Churchill’s 1945 victory speech will be spoken by actor Timothy Spall to kick off events.

This will be the last major commemoration for which “anyone will still be alive who actually served in the Second World War,” monarchy specialist Robert Hazell of University College London told AFP.

Today, Buckingham Palace will host a reception to celebrate veterans and people of the WWII generation. 

Alan Kennett, a 100-year-old Normandy veteran, will start the procession in London, which is set to march down Whitehall, through Admiralty Arch and up The Mall towards Buckingham Palace.

Thirty further veterans are to attend official events today, including 26 who will watch the procession in London.

The list includes Royal Navy veteran Albert Keir, 99; Royal Engineers veteran Alfred Littlefield, aged 101; RAF veteran Bernard Morgan, 101; Army veterans Arthur Oborne, 99, and Tom Stonehouse, 99; and Royal Marines veteran Francis James Grant, 99; who all served during D-Day.

The Nato detachment, which will also include personnel from Poland, Lithuania and Sweden, will march in the procession wearing the uniforms of their respective nations under the Nato flag.

Members of military band march in Parliament Square, London today. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Representatives of the Ukrainian military, selected from the UK armed forces’ training programme for Ukrainian recruits Operation Interflex, will also take part.

As European countries gear up to celebrate Victory in Europe (VE) Day on May 8, the war in Ukraine is a reminder “that peace is never to be taken for granted”, King Charles III told the Italian parliament last month.

“Today, sadly, the echoes of those times —which we fervently hoped had been consigned to history — reverberate across our continent,” the king said.

Today’s procession in London will culminate in a fly past featuring aerobatic team the Red Arrows and 23 current and historic military aircraft, which the 76-year-old monarch and other working royals will watch from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

It was from the same balcony on May 8, 1945, that King George VI and Queen Elizabeth — alongside their daughters princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, and then prime minister Churchill — greeted tens of thousands of Londoners celebrating what Churchill declared the “day of victory in Europe”.

The royal family and Churchill on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, VE Day. Alamy Alamy

That night, the two princesses, then 19 and 14, were allowed to leave the palace and join the jubilant crowds incognito.

Some 40 years later, Elizabeth, by then queen, described the night as “one of the most memorable” of her life.

This year’s commemorations come just days after Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, did a bombshell interview with the BBC. 

Harry told the broadcaster his father will not speak to him and he does not know how much longer the King has left.

The royal family have said they hope “nothing will detract or distract” from the commemorations this week. 

With reporting from Press Association and AFP.