Marking one of England’s most stunning military victories always takes something special. The Battle of Agincourt, where Henry V’s outnumbered army defeated the French against the odds, got just that at a rousing service to commemorate its 600th anniversary yesterday. Henry’s sword, normally kept safely in a museum, was back in the thick of the action, solemnly carried through Westminster Abbey at the start before being placed on the High Altar. Later came high drama as an armour-clad thespian, his forehead spattered with stage-blood, delivered the English king’s inspiring ‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers’ speech from Shakespeare’s Henry the Fifth, the play which immortalised the battle.
- Commemoration took place in central London in remembrance of clash
- Battle took place in a farmer's field in northern France on October 25, 1415
- Small band of English and Welsh archers beat vast French army in one day
- Yesterday's service included re-enactment and King Henry V's sword