Tens of thousands of people today descended on the Tower of London where a sea of ceramic poppies has been placed in memory of Britain's war dead.
There were chaotic scenes as people flocked to the site as London basked in record-breaking 20C Halloween temperatures on the last day of the school half-term holiday.
Visitors queued for several hours to get into the Tower, with further queues of over an hour to see the Crown Jewels. Police marshalled pedestrians across the road from Tower Hill station, which earlier had to closed due to chronic overcrowding.
In the early hours this morning, soldiers armed with assault rifles patrolled the moat where the sea of poppies is placed.
The servicemen — from the Guards Division — were seen walking through the display, which commemorates the life of fallen British and colonial soldiers, in the early hours of this morning.
The installation by Paul Cummins, entitled Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red has seen 8,000 volunteers place 888,246 ceramic poppies into the dry moat. It is due to be removed after Remembrance Day on November 11.
The Tower of London poppy display - in pictures
A Tower of London spokeswoman said visitor numbers had been higher during the half term break.
She added: "We want to ensure that everyone visiting the Tower enjoys the best possible experience, so we’ve put measures in place to facilitate the increase in visitor numbers.
"We’ve introduced crowd control barriers in key areas, and brought in extra staff, including agency staff specialising in facilitating major events, to help meet the demand.
"We’re advising people to postpone their visit to the Tower until after half-term if possible, or to visit outside of opening hours, for example earlier in the day before 10am."
