Skip to content

Princess Anne honours Glosters at Korean cemetery

Chloe HarcombeWest of England
News imagePA Media Princess Anne. She has dark grey hair and is wearing a cream jacket, a pearl necklace and pearl earrings. She is pictured outside, squinting in the sun and looking to the side. Two Korean men are stood behind her. PA Media
News imagePA Media Princess Anne stood in a line with her husband, two other men and a woman at a memorial service. She has dark grey hair and is wearing a brown dress and cream jacket. Everyone is stood looking to the side to watch a flag raising ceremony.PA Media
The Princess Royal visits the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan, South Korea
A flag-raising ceremony is observed as part of the service

The Princess Royal has honoured British soldiers who died in a pivotal Korean War battle 75 years ago.

Princess Anne laid a wreath of red flowers at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan, South Korea, in memory of those killed in the Battle of Imjin River in April 1951.

During the battle, 400 members of the Gloucestershire Regiment – the "Glorious Glosters" – held out against 10,000 Chinese troops for three nights. The standoff crucially gave UN forces time to block the Chinese advance on Seoul.

In Busan, Princess Anne heard the accounts of three Korean veterans and expressed "her deepest respect and gratitude for their immense sacrifice and devotion", a cemetery spokesperson said.

The battle remains the bloodiest engagement endured by the British Army since World War Two.

News imagePA Media Princess Anne shaking hands with an elderly Korean war veteran. She has dark grey hair that's tied up and is wearing a white jacket, a brown dress and brown gloves. PA Media
Princess Anne expressed "her deepest respect and gratitude" when she met Korean war veterans

The princess also had tea with the veterans, toured graves and heard stories about Victoria Cross heroes who were killed in action.

One of those was Lt Philip Curtis, from Devonport in Plymouth, who was posthumously awarded the UK's highest military decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy, for continuing to command his platoon at Imjin River despite being wounded.

News imagePA Media Princess Anne pictured at a memorial cemetery in Busan. She is pictured wearing sunglasses, a cream jacket and a brown dress while looking at a memorial full of the names of deceased soldiers.PA Media
The princess is accompanied on a tour of the memorial cemetery

Princess Anne also visited the final resting place of Maj Patrick Angier, of the Gloucestershire Regiment, who was finally identified in 2023 through analysis of historical records.

Until 2023, he had been interred as an unknown soldier for more than 70 years.

The Battle of Imjin River ran from 22 to 25 April 1951.

About 4,000 British troops were involved in total, from the 29th Infantry Brigade.

This included about 700 soldiers from 1st Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment.

'Extraordinary heroism'

Few Glosters avoided death or imprisonment. About 400 fought in the standoff on Hill 235, which was later renamed Gloster Hill.

In total, 59 Glosters were killed and nearly 600 were taken prisoner. Thirty-four died in captivity.

For their heroic stand, the Glosters were given the Presidential Unit Citation – the highest American award for extraordinary heroism and collective gallantry in battle.

Their efforts delayed the advance of the Communist troops and prevented them from outflanking the forces of the Republic of Korea and the United Unions, and blocked a direct assault on the capital Seoul.

A total of 2,239 UN servicemen from 14 nations are buried at the cemetery in Busan.

The cemetery visit marks the start of a five-day tour by the princess.

She will spend three days in South Korea before travelling to Thailand.

Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

More on this story