The red arrows flew over central london, and there were flypasts in edinburgh, cardiff and belfast. Music a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square by vera lynn i may be right i may be wrong but im perfectly willing to swear. And, ahead of a special evening of celebration, well speak to the welsh soprano, katherinejenkins, who has performed a medley of wartime favourites to an empty Royal Albert Hall. In other news, theres to be limited easing of lockdown restrictions in wales. At 5 00, well bring todays Coronavirus Briefing from downing street, led today by the environment secretary, George Eustice. Good afternoon and welcome to this bbc news special. Well be bringing you all the latest on coronavirus with the downing street News Conference at 5pm. But first, a two minute silence has been held across the United Kingdom to commemorate the 75th anniversary of ve day. Events are taking place all day, but public gatherings have been cancelled as the country remains in lockdown because of coronavirus. Victory in europe day marks the day in 1945 when britain and its allies accepted the Unconditional Surrender of nazi germany, bringing the war in europe to an end. The prince of wales and the duchess of cornwall led the silence from balmoral and the queen will address the nation this evening. Our first report is from our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell. In streets largely deserted due to the lockdown, britain remembered and gave thanks for the day when the Second World War in europe came to an end. The nations tribute was led by the prince of wales with the duchess of cornwall at the war memorial on the balmoral estate. A cannon at Edinburgh Castle marked the start of the two minute silence, and carefully managed moments of remembrance across the nation. At balmoral, as the silence ended, the prince of wales laid his wreath in tribute to the Second World War generation which overcame the tyranny of nazi germany. The cost had been high. Nearly 400,000 members of britains Armed Services lost their lives in the Second World War, and a further 60,000 civilians. Over the white cliffs near dover, two spitfires, the wartime Fighter Aircraft which played such a key role in the defence of britain, flying today in remembrance of the few, linking the communities over which they flew with the events of 75 years ago. Keeping watch is a man who led englishmen to victory against an earlier tyrant. His column stands at the very centre of the Great British commonwealth of nations. Crowds swirled below him in a riot of rejoicing by day and night. On this day in 1945, many tens of thousands of people took to the streets in joyous celebration that the war in europe was over. The contrast with those same streets today is striking. Mass commemorations have been made impossible but the nations remembrance has been made all the more poignant by the coronavirus losses. All of us who were born since 1945, are acutely conscious that we owe everything we most value to the generation who won the Second World War. And we remember the millions of people from across the United Kingdom, from across the world, who came together in world war ii to fight for our shared values. Values of freedom, of democracy, of peace. 75 years after the end of the Second World War, a nation in lockdown looked beyond its present challenges to give thanks. Thanks which will be expressed tonight in a special broadcast by the queen. Nicholas witchell, bbc news. The soprano katherinejenkins will perform a concert behind closed doors at the Royal Albert Hall to mark the 75th anniversary of ve day. Shell sing wartime classics by dame vera lynn, including the white cliffs of dover and well meet again. It will be streamed online on youtube this evening but for now heres a little taste of her performance of a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square. Music a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square by vera lynn i may be right i may be wrong but im perfectly willing to swear that when you turned and smiled at me a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square. Well, Katherine Jenkins joins us now. Catherine, you sound beautiful, but what a strange site it is in a empty concert hall. What was it like . Very surreal. The Royal Albert Hall is my favourite venue in the entire world. I actually found the performance quite emotional. You know, throughout singing i just quite emotional. You know, throughout singing ijust kept thinking of, hopefully we are going to bejoined by people thinking of, hopefully we are going to be joined by people across the nation from their homes who will be keeping me company and singing along, i hope. But usually, and im sure they will, usually you can see your audience and feel your audience, you are performing to them. So it must take Something Else to perform in a completely empty hall. Yes but that is why i was so thrilled when the Royal Albert Hall invited me to come and do this. I was actually meant to be presenting the 75th anniversary concert this evening in which understandably was postponed until later in the year, andi postponed until later in the year, and i think itsjust postponed until later in the year, and i think its just so postponed until later in the year, and i think itsjust so important that we get to celebrate this day in the very best way that we can, given the very best way that we can, given the circumstances. And so to be asked to do something thats never been done in its 150 year history was a massive honour, and ive spent the last few weeks doing Facebook Live concerts. Ive got used to singing without any feedback or applause or anything. So thats been my experience of lockdown. And you, of course, were involved in previous commemorative anniversaries for ve day, werent you . Yes, i did the 60th and 70th anniversary concerts at buckingham palace, sorry, Trafalgar Square and horse guards parade. When you are in that kind of concert you see how important it is to the veterans and their families, which is why ijust think it is lovely to see that people are doing all that they can to celebrate it today. And do you feel, then, that given the collective effort it hasnt been overshadowed 7 given the collective effort it hasnt been overshadowed . Ve day hasnt been overshadowed . Ve day hasnt been overshadowed by the pandemic . Absolutely. And there is so pandemic . Absolutely. And there is so much to come this evening. We have got the stream on youtube at 6pm this evening and then at 8pm there is a concert on the bbc which also will get everybody in the mood and a celebrate that with music of the era. It is not over yet, there are so the era. It is not over yet, there are so much more the era. It is not over yet, there are so much more to come the era. It is not over yet, there are so much more to come today. Very good to talk to you. Thank you so much. Katherinejenkins there. Thank you for your time. Im going to bring you some live pictures from washington now. We should be able to see very shortly President Trump who is at the Second World War memorial in washington, and he is about to lay a wreath. Here he comes. Leaders across the world are, of course, paying their own respects, laying wreaths. President macron did so only in france and the german chancellor Angela Merkel too. Earlier in france. Well, while we are watching these pictures from the uk and american viewpoint, the Second World War is a conflict that we won, but the narrative shifts considerably in russia where it is remembered in a considerably different light. The soviet union bore the brunt of the nazi war machine its estimated that for every single us soldier killed fighting the germans, 80 soviet soldiers died. So an estimated 27 million soviet citizens died during world war ii, including 11 million soldiers. While we watch the president of the United States and the first lady laying that wreath, we can speak to sir max hastings, historian and author of all hell let loose the world at war, 1939 1945. Hejoins us from hungerford. Thank you forjoining us. We are still seeing the pictures from washington as we hear your voice. But just put into washington as we hear your voice. Butjust put into perspective for us, i suppose, butjust put into perspective for us, isuppose, the butjust put into perspective for us, i suppose, the contribution of the United States as against that of russia. It was american wealth and amazing Industrial Resources that made victory possible alongside the russian human sacrifice. But britain was the force that kept defiance and freedom alive in 1940 41 but by 1942, by which time russia and the United States were in the war britain was pretty exhausted and the red army is sometimes forgotten and eventually marched to berlin wearing boots made in america because all the cattle had been killed in russia during the colossal struggle on the eastern front. They were eating spam, they were driving chevrolet trucks, so the red army did a lot of the killing and the dying that was essential to defeat nazism, but they did it with material provided largely by the United States, and to a lesser extent by britain. So American Resources were absolutely critical to defeating nazism, and so was russian human sacrifice. The russians are very sensitive about this. They feel that a right back to 1945 when they would not accept d day as may the 8th because they would only accept that germany had surrendered when a surrender document was signed in berlin one day after the germans surrendered to general eisenhower. To this day the russians celebrate ve day one day after us. They still feel that we dont fully appreciate the incredible sacrifice, the human sacrifice they made. I think Winston Churchill, if he were still here, would say of course the russians only came into the war at all because hitler invaded them. Before that they were hitlers allies. So history is quite complicated. Yes, it is. Quite a few people who know a lot about world war ii would still be very surprised to hear that relatively speaking american troops and british casualties on the battlefield were so very much less than those of soviet russia. Battlefield were so very much less than those of soviet russialj forget the exact numbers but roughly speaking britain and the United States took about 2 or 3 each of the total losses of the Second World War, whereas the russian percentage was far, far higher, and all sorts of countries we dont think much about like yugoslavia and greece and so on also lost enormous numbers of people. China lost 15 million. We a lwa ys people. China lost 15 million. We always have to remember that this was truly a global tragedy, a global struggle, and although britains role was absolutely vital, i personally believe that if Winston Churchill hadnt existed, i think that any other british leader would have made peace with hitler in 1940, so our debt to churchill and the worlds debt to britain is a very real debt. But if you look at the struggle in the global perspective, the russians did most of the killing and the dying that were necessary to defeat nazism. Sir max hastings, we left those pictures from washington and we can see you nice and clearly now. We are celebrating ve day today in the middle of this coronavirus pandemic. Im wondering whether you can see any parallels between the sort of struggle and the deprivation that people had to endure 75 years ago and in the preceding six years, and whats going on now. I think part of ourjob as historians is to try to bring perspective to it. We have to see that 30,000 deaths in britain due to coronavirus it is frankly tiny compared to the Second World War. The Second World War went on for six yea rs. The Second World War went on for six years. My mother, when i was little and my father was banging on about the exciting adventures he had in the exciting adventures he had in the war, my mother would say, dont listen to him for a moment, it was awful from listen to him for a moment, it was awfulfrom beginning to end the separations, the blackout, the rationing, the misery, the sacrifices so we have to keep a sense of proportion. What worries me at the moment is that there is one important parallel, that most of the people who did the dying that had to be done to win the war were young, and im afraid that the result of coronavirus, i think a lot of people dont understand, but this crisis wont just end dont understand, but this crisis wontjust end one morning when the lockdown ends. It will only stop because of the colossal economic consequences. 0ur generation, we are old, im 74. I worry about the young and there are lots of opportunities, and there are lots of opportunities, andi and there are lots of opportunities, and i do think its terribly important to focus attention on the potential loss of opportunities for the young to come out of all this. This will be a very long business, and we will need a lot of courage. I think one of the things that makes it hardest, at least in the Second World War, everybody could see the enemy, they could see this colossal evil of hitler and nazism and the japanese. Now, today, we dont see an enemy, but weve got this huge tragedy being inflicted upon the world which is going to cause us such Enormous Economic distress of which we havent even seen the beginning yet, and yet there isnt an enemy. You cant focus on who is to blame for this, so it is going to bea to blame for this, so it is going to be a very tough time. We are going to need courage but of a different kind. Ithink to need courage but of a different kind. I think we want to cheer ourselves up sometimes. The Second World War went on for six years. Although the economic fallout from this will go on a long time, we are not being asked to get into uniform, to kill anybody or even to put our own lives at risk, so weve still got a huge amount to be grateful for. What i do think it has in common between ve day today, this anniversary and where we are now, is that in 1945, the british people passionately wanted change. That in 1945, the british people passionately wanted changelj that in 1945, the british people passionately wanted change. I was just going to ask you. Im leaping in because i was speaking to a historian from the Imperial War Museum who talked about the huge social change that happened after the war, and do you think this might bea the war, and do you think this might be a moment when that happens youre . Some people were baffled, including stalin, that churchill was defeated in the general election, but the british people thoroughly understood the huge debt they owed to this great war leader, but they we re to this great war leader, but they were also right in thinking that churchill was not the man to give them the new britain that they wanted, i think, them the new britain that they wanted, ithink, so them the new britain that they wanted, i think, so that is why they put labour in, and labour did create the welfare state, the National Health service and so on, and i think the british people made a wise decision. My opinion is that we are going to see change on a scale, hard to guess at its nature, but we will all be a lot poorer, but i do believe there will be consequences and people will say, all right, if we are going to go through all this, we are going to go through all this, we have got to see all the businesses going bust and people losing theirjobs, people will once again say, we have got to build Something Better and different out of all of this. It is impossible to guess at this stage what form the change will take, but i do not think the british people will be wrong if they say, we have got to look at the ways in which we can do things differently and better, at the end of all this. So interesting. Thank you so much for your time. Max hastings, historian. Events are taking place throughout the uk today, but the commemorations are taking a different tone, with large gatherings cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic and people urged to celebrate at home. But thats not preventing the occasion from being marked in style. Duncan kennedy reports from portsmouth. Last post plays names, real people, lives lost, hope to come. Staring out from the Portsmouth Naval memorial, the list of some of those who couldnt come back and celebrate ve day. This morning, they made their absence felt on this national day of commemoration. I think our veterans need to be reminded how thankful we are for what they have achieved and what they have done. I think its also important to let them know they still inspire us today from that generation. Off the coast of dover, where spitfires and hurricanes once defended the nation, the red arrows soared over, thrilling those below. In rutland, 96 year old Second World War glider veteran ken 0dell marking his own silence in his own way. Were going to hang out the washing on the siegfried line. With todays two minute silence came the first of the nationwide street