Despite windy and wet conditions, around 4,000 locals and visitors attended with the British monarch, Commonwealth leaders and their host, Belgium's Queen Paola a solemn commemoration just outside this village at Tyne Cot military cemetery.

While mournful bagpipes played, the royals and officials from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries laid wreaths of remembrance to those who fought and died in the Battle of Passchendaele, described by historians as one of the greatest slaughters of the war.

Rupert Forrester, 18, from Leeds, England, whose ancestors fought near Tyne Cot, said the anniversary has led him to discover a lot about his family ties to Passchendaele.