Millions of people joined in a two-minute silence Saturday to remember Britain's war dead. Across the country people will pay their prayerful respects in church services on Sunday.

The start of Saturday's silence was heralded at 11am by a lone bugler at a London service on Armistice Day, the anniversary of the official end of World War One.

Many gathered for a service in the capital's Trafalgar Square where they were invited to place in the fountains red poppies, worn on lapels since just after the end of World War One to honour those who die in battle because the poppy grew on the battlefields of northern Europe.

British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan also observed the silence.

In London four Royal Air Force fighter jets flew low over the capital to mark the end of the two-minute silence.

The Queen was joined by New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark at a service to dedicate 16 bronze memorial sculptures in Hyde Park. The specially commissioned sculptures honour New Zealand's war dead and give special acknowledgement to the links between the two countries, reports Reuters.