Senior members of the Royal family will take part in a service at Westminster Abbey this morning to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Battle of Britain veterans will be joined by the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince William, who has just graduated as an RAF helicopter pilot.

The service is being held in remembrance of the some 3,000 pilots from Britain and its overseas territories who went out day after day to do battle with Nazi bombers as they sought to take control of the skies over southern England in 1940.

Despite being heavily outnumbered, Britain’s pilots, many of whom were only teenagers or in their early twenties at the time, won the air campaign and helped to prevent a full invasion by Hitler.

The Battle of Britain is still regarded as one of the most important battles that this nation has fought.

The service will be followed by a parade of serving members of the RAF and a fly-past by Spitfires and Hurricanes.

It will also pay tribute to the men and women currently serving in the RAF.