Several members of the royal family updated their profile pictures on Instagram and Twitter on Tuesday, 9 November. Such moves are always carefully thought out by royals and their team of advisors and there’s a very good reason behind this change as well.
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Remembrance Day
They’ve decided to use their platforms to mark the upcoming Remembrance Day, also known as Armistice Day or Poppy Day.
To pay tribute to the men and women who died while fighting for the country, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge replaced their happy profile picture with an image of a close-up poppy. According to People Magazine, the red flower has been ‘used since 1921 to commemorate the military dead.’ Last year, William and Kate posted a photo of them laying a poppy wreath during their visit to Manchester.
Following tradition
The official account of the royal family also stuck to tradition this year and changed their display photo to one of the Queen wearing a poppy brooch. Prince Charles followed suit with a group photo in which he and his wife were alongside 10 volunteer Poppy Appeal collectors that represented 10 decades of the Royal British Legion. Underneath the post, the future King wrote:
In November 1921, the Royal British Legion’s first Poppy Appeal took place and the nation adopted the annual tradition of placing a small red flower on their clothing to signify respect and support for the Armed Forces community, their service and their sacrifice.
This year we warmly welcome the return of Poppy Appeal collectors to our communities.
My wife and I are extremely proud to be issuing the Poppy Appeal in this pivotal year and we invite the nation to come together and, once again, wear a poppy in support of our armed forces community. After all, every poppy counts.
