LONDON, May 2, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Britain kicks off four days of events Monday marking 80 years since the end of World War II in Europe, lent extra poignancy by the fading of the "Greatest Generation" and renewed global turbulence.

Victory in Europe Day celebrations across the continent will be centred on May 8, the day Nazi Germany surrendered in 1945.

The British royal family will help launch joyous festivities on Monday watching a military parade, followed by a tea party for veterans at Buckingham Palace.

King Charles III, wife Queen Camilla, heir to the throne Prince William and his wife Catherine will attend the parade, and will also watch a flypast of old and modern aircraft from the palace balcony, with thousands of people due to line the streets.

Charles and Catherine both revealed last year that they had been diagnosed with cancer but have since returned to frontline duties, albeit with reduced schedules.

The anniversary, set to be among the last major wartime commemorations with a significant presence of veterans, will also see union flags draped on London's Cenotaph war memorial that honours Britain's war dead.

"For me, it's important to remember some of the poor devils who didn't make it," WWII Royal Air Force veteran Dennis Bishop, 99, told AFP, urging younger generations to "grow up to be friendly with everybody".

Street parties across the country will include one on board HMS Belfast, the most significant surviving WWII warship, now anchored in central London.

Over the following three days other events will include an installation of nearly 30,000 ceramic poppies at the Tower of London, an historic citadel on the River Thames.

The celebrations will culminate on May 8 with a two-minute national silence and remembrance service at Westminster Abbey. A nostalgic concert at the historic Horse Guards Parade in the evening will feature pop singers, actors and military bands.

It was only after the May 8 surrender that the full horrors of Nazi rule came to light, including that six million Jews had been systematically murdered in the Holocaust.

- Russia snubbed -

While VE Day has traditionally been a celebration, this year's will be tinged by current global events and the passing of a generation.

"All historical anniversaries take their colour both from the event in question and also from the context," author and historian David Reynolds, from the University of Cambridge, told AFP.

The three-year conflict in Ukraine after Russia's invasion will also affect events.

European leaders, particularly incoming German chancellor Friedrich Merz, are keen "to show firmness in this conflict at a time when it's far from clear that the Europeans can rely on" unquestioned US support, said Reynolds.

"The defeated enemy (Germany) is now an ally... and an ally that is, for the first time in the history of NATO, really going to play a major part in NATO's defence activity. That adds a sense of irony," he added.

Exceptionally, May 8 will be a public holiday in Germany with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to attend a service at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was partly destroyed by Allied air raids during the war.

The German parliament will then hold a ceremony in the presence of high-ranking guests but without the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors.

- 'Peace must be worked for' -
Russia will mark "Victory Day" on May 9 with a huge military parade of troops and hardware on Red Square, presided over by President Vladimir Putin.

China's Xi Jinping and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are among around 20 foreign leaders set to attend.

Putin has elevated Victory Day to Russia's most important national holiday and has channelled the Soviet Union's role in defeating Nazi Germany as justification for his 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron is due to preside over a national ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe on May 8, where he will lay a wreath and rekindle the flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

With fewer veterans to thank each year, the event is now becoming an important way to teach the lessons of WWII to new generations, said Reynolds, author of "Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the Leaders Who Shaped Him".

"We should not assume that peace is the norm in this world... Peace is something that has to be worked for, and that is the lesson of the Second World War."

King Charles addressed the Italian parliament last month in the same vein.

"Peace is never to be taken for granted," he warned.