Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Prince William lays Anzac wreath, later to visit New Zealand mosques

Britain's Prince William has laid a wreath at an Anzac Day service in New Zealand and will later visit survivors of last month's mosque attacks.

Britain's Prince William lays a wreath during an Anzac Day service in Auckland, New Zealand, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (Brett Phibbs / SNPA via AP)
Britain's Prince William lays a wreath during an Anzac Day service in Auckland, New Zealand, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (Brett Phibbs / SNPA via AP)Read moreBrett Phibbs / AP

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Britain's Prince William laid a wreath at an Anzac Day service Thursday in New Zealand, where he will later visit survivors of last month's mosque attacks.

The Duke of Cambridge attended the service in Auckland alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and laid a wreath of red and white flowers on behalf of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Anzac Day is a memorial holiday on the anniversary of New Zealand and Australian soldiers, known as Anzacs, landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. More than 10,000 soldiers from the two countries were killed during that WWI campaign in what's now Turkey.

William is scheduled to fly to Christchurch on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, he will visit the two mosques where a gunman killed 50 people on March 15. He plans to meet with first responders, Muslim leaders, and survivors of the attacks.