D-Day badge marks Queen's absence
Some British veterans are wearing badges bearing photos of the Queen during D-Day anniversary events to protest at the French government's failure to invite the monarch.
Initially no member of the British Royal Family was invited to the memorial events in Normandy but the Prince of Wales will now attend services in Bayeux and Colleville-Montgomery.
The badge protest was organised by Harm Kuijper, from the Netherlands, who runs the website Normandy Veterans Association Friends.
"I thought we had to make a statement," he said. "I brought 300 copies to Normandy and all the veterans said I had done a great job. They say they fight for the Queen so it's so important that she's invited. It's come right from the heart."
In one of the first events to mark the anniversary, parachutists dropped from the sky over Normandy to remember British servicemen who made the first landings 65 years ago.
Some of those who dropped into fields near Ranville watched as present members of 3 Para jumped from Dakota and Hercules aircraft into fields edged with poppies.
The Normandy Veterans Association, for whom the occasion marks the last visit to France as a group, will attend a service and parade at Colleville-Montgomery.
The Royal British Legion, schoolchildren and veterans will lay a wreath at Bayeux International War Cemetery.
Around 80 children from schools in London and the South East will then plant flags in a beach which have been sent with messages of thanks.
They will also meet D-Day veterans to hear their stories about the bloody day, which the latest research suggests ended with the deaths of over 4,000 allies.
