Queen 'content' island not at Cenotaph service

THE Queen is 'content' with arrangements that exclude Guernsey from the Remembrance Day Cenotaph service in London, the Prime Minister has said.

Confirmation of Her Majesty's position follows a request from the All-Party Parliamentary Channel Islands Group vice chair, Andrew Rosindell, that the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories be allowed to lay a wreath at the annual ceremony.

'I can assure you that there is no question of seeking to purposefully exclude the representatives of these nations from the Cenotaph ceremony on any basis,' said Prime Minister David Cameron in a letter to the MP.

'The make-up of the Cenotaph service has remained unchanged over the years and I understand that the royal household is content with the current arrangements for the Remembrance Day service.'

Mr Rosindell did not believe it was Buckingham Palace blocking a change – he said it was those with responsibility seeking to avoid the bureaucracy it would bring.

'If the Prime Minister recommended to the Queen or Buckingham Palace that next year he wanted to introduce the Overseas Territories laying their own wreath or even just the Channel Islands I'm in no doubt that the Queen or the royal household would say that's absolutely fine,' he said.