No royals at D-Day commemorations
No member of the Royal family will attend next week's official D-Day commemorations in France, Buckingham Palace has said.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown will represent the UK at events in Normandy on June 6 to mark the 65th anniversary of the landings which helped defeat Hitler's Germany.
But neither the Queen nor any other Royal will be present because they have not been invited, said a Palace spokeswoman.
British Normandy veterans criticised the absence of the Queen from the guest list for the commemorations after it emerged that she had not received an invitation.
French officials responded by insisting she was welcome and blaming the UK Government for deciding who should attend what they said was "primarily a Franco-American ceremony".
Luc Chatel, a spokesman for the French government, said: "It is not up to France to determine the British representation."
But Buckingham Palace confirmed that the Queen would not be attending the event.
A spokeswoman said: "Neither the Queen nor any other members of the royal family will be attending the D-Day commemorations on June 6 as we have not received an official invitation to any of these events.
"We would like to reiterate that we have never expressed any sense of anger or frustration at all, and are content with all the arrangements that are planned."
US president Barack Obama will join French president Nicolas Sarkozy for next week's commemorations. It is understood that Defence Secretary John Hutton and General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army, will attend on behalf of the UK.
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