VE Day remembered

“..I cannot realise that the fighting in Europe is really over. It has been the most utter and complete defeat...”

The extract is from a letter recently discovered in the Longleat’s archives released to mark the 80^th anniversary of VE Day on 8 May 2025.

VE Day – 8 May 1945 - saw the surrender of German forces at the end of World War II and was marked across the country including on the Wiltshire estate which also played its part to support the war effort.

Longleat archivist Emma Challinor said: “Our current Lord Bath’s great grandfather, the 5^th Marquess, was sharing Longleat House at the time with the Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army, Bath; it had moved there in its entirety for the duration of the war."

“The whole school gathered around a bonfire in the park to celebrate, later sending the 5^th Marquess a poem to commemorate the event which began: ‘Symbols of hope and aspiration high, The leaping flames challenged the darkening sky. Victory filled our hearts and minds that night ..."

“ Lady Emma, daughter of the 5^th Marquess, had been working with the Women’s Voluntary Service in Reading throughout the war and she wrote to him and described the many ranges of emotions experienced by young and old on that momentous day.”

As well as hosting the pupils from Bath, the estate had an American Military Hospital based in the park – near to where the rhinos live today, and it was designed to accommodate 750 patients and personnel. It also had a major RAF base with buildings storing equipment and munitions, near the current main entrance to the estate.

The trains on Longleat Railway which is celebrating its 60^th anniversary this year will herald the start of the national two-minute silence on Thursday 8 May at midday.

One of Longleat’s flagship events, Icons of the Sky, this year will also commemorate the VE Day anniversary with flights including the Supermarine Spitfire