Today, a military Colour or veterans' standard may represent a regiment, ship, squadron, association, branch or group whose history stretches back generations. The names and badges embroidered onto them can carry memories of campaigns, friendships, service and loss.

That is why the standards seen at Remembrance services are treated with such respect. To somebody watching from the pavement they may appear to be beautifully embroidered flags. To the people standing behind them, they can represent friends and colleagues with whom they served, people who never returned home and generations of service before their own.

On 21 October 1805, 27 British ships of the line sailed towards a combined French and Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar. What followed became one of the most famous naval battles in British history. Admiral Horatio Nelson's victory at Trafalgar secured British naval supremacy, but cost Nelson his life. It also produced perhaps the most famous flag signal in history: “England expects that every man will do his duty.”