Britain’s Duke of Cambridge paid his respects to British prisoners of war killed in Japan at a Commonwealth War Graves cemetery outside of Tokyo.
Prince William laid a wreath at the burial site – which holds the graves of over 1,500 British and Commonwealth soldiers, sailors and airmen who died during the Second World War and the Allied occupation of Japan – during the first day of his tour of Japan.
The floral tribute placed on a stone cross at the Yokohoma War Cemetery featured a hand-written message, which reads: "May we never forget all those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. William."
Many of the men buried on the site were killed during Allied bombing raid on Tokyo towards the end of World War II while others were worked to their deaths in horrendous conditions in mines, factories and dockyards, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reports.
A brief ceremony preceded the laying of the wreath, during which the British Defence Attache Captain Charles Ashcroft said: "To understand the present we must acknowledge the past.
"If, as Churchill warned us, we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we will indeed find that we have lost the future."
The 32-year-old royal – who is currently on an eight day tour of Japan and China without his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, and their son Prince George – walked through the grounds looking at the graves before signing a visitors book which had been placed next to a framed picture of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
Duke of Cambridge pays respect to British prisoners of war
