Britain's top politicians took part in commemorations on the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day today, just hours after a dramatic election that left the opposition in disarray.
Conservative leader David Cameron laid a wreath at the Cenotaph war memorial in central London, close to the Downing Street office that he will again occupy after confounding the pollsters to comfortably keep his job as prime minister.
He was flanked by outgoing Labour leader Ed Miliband and Liberal Democrat chief Nick Clegg, who both quit shortly before the ceremony after their parties were routed at the polls.
Triumphant Scottish National Party chief Nicola Sturgeon, whose party demolished Labour north of the border, also laid a wreath during the memorial ceremony, as did Queen Elizabeth II's son Prince Andrew.
With the Tories securing an outright majority, it is a far cry from pre-poll predictions that the event would be held amid political horse trading to form a coalition.
Putting the politics to one side, the country fell silent for two minutes at 1400 GMT, marking the moment when wartime prime minister Winston Churchill broadcast his historic speech announcing the end of the conflict.
Following six years of air raids, blackouts, economic hardships and fighting that claimed the lives of almost 400,000 Britons, the country seized the chance to celebrate the end of the war on May 8, 1945, with even the future Queen Elizabeth II anonymously joining the ecstatic throngs in central London.
"It took a couple of days to really sink in," 101-year-old veteran John Harrison recalled.
"All you could hear were church bells, which were marvelous," the former officer on board the HMS Belfast warship told AFP.
"When the news came... My team said, 'Well, there's only one place (to be), I think John, and that's the nearest pub.' It was such a relief.
"If we hadn't done the things we did, God knows what the regime would have been like," he said.
Commemorations will strike a more sombre tone on Sunday, with members of the royal family, veterans and senior politicians attending a thanksgiving service at London's Westminster Abbey.
There will then be a parade of current personnel and veterans past the balcony of the Treasury building where Churchill made his appearance on VE Day and a fly past of current and historic aircraft -- including wartime Hurricane, Spitfire and Lancaster bombers.
