Nato

Nato's 75th anniversary celebrated with musical tribute at Buckingham Palace

Watch: 75th anniversary Buckingham Palace performance of the Nato Hymn

To mark the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the Nato Hymn has been performed during the Changing of the Guard ceremony outside Buckingham Palace.

Played by the Band of the Welsh Guards, the musical tribute honoured the transatlantic alliance which was formed on 4 April 1949. Today Nato includes 32 member states.

A video of the performance was shared by the Royal Family on social media.

Nato is celebrating its anniversary on 4 April at its headquarters in Brussels, and commemorations will also take place in Washington in July where its founding treaty was signed.

"To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Nato, the Band of the Welsh Guards played the Nato Hymn during the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace this morning," tweeted the Royal Family.

The concept of a "hymn" for Nato goes back several decades.

In 1960, RAF Air Marshal Edward Chilton suggested combining the member states' national anthems into a single piece of music.

And in 1989, to commemorate Nato's 40th anniversary, Luxembourgish military band officer André Reichling composed an instrumental piece called the Nato Hymn.

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