In an audio message to be shared later this evening, the King will reflect on the horrors experienced by prisoners of war and innocent civilians in occupied lands.
The six-minute speech, recorded earlier this month at Clarence House, echoes and makes reference to the historic broadcast made by his grandfather, King George VI.
King Charles vows sacrifices of VJ Day heroes ‘shall never be forgotten’
☕️ Ahead of the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, The Duchess of Edinburgh sat down with James ‘Jim’ Wren, a 105-year-old Royal Marines veteran, at his care home in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
Mr Wren survived the sinking of HMS Repulse in 1941 and was later a Prisoner of War for three and… pic.twitter.com/StV35m99bf
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) August 12, 2025
The monarch will describe how the heroes of VJ Day “gave us more than freedom; they left us the example of how it can and must be protected”, with victory only being made possible because of close collaboration between nations “across vast distances, faiths and cultural divides”.
King Charles will also say this demonstrated how “in times of war and in times of peace, the greatest weapons of all are not the arms you bear but the arms you link”.
He will conclude by stating that the service and sacrifice of veterans and those who lost their lives fighting in the conflict “shall never be forgotten”.
This message will be broadcast live on the BBC at 7:30pm today (Friday, August 15).
This will take place ahead of a service of remembrance being attended by the King and Queen, veterans and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
King Charles has said the sacrifices of the VJ Day heroes ‘shall never be forgotten’ (Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire) The event, hosted by the Royal British Legion in partnership with the Government, will see the King and his wife leave floral tributes, alongside other senior figures.
There will also be a national two-minute silence, which will be concluded by an aerial display by the Red Arrows and a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
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What does VJ Day stand for and why is it commemorated?
VJ Day stands for Victory over Japan Day and, according to the British Legion, marks the surrender of Japan and the end of the Second World War in the Pacific and Far East.
While the war had come to an end in Europe with the surrender of Germany to Allied forces on May 8, 1945, fighting continued on the other side of the world until August 15.
The conflict here only came to an end after two atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
King Charles’s VJ Day speech will be broadcast on the BBC at 7:30pm on Friday, August 15.
