Chelsea Pensioners will be joined by Prince and Princess Michael of Kent as they parade through London in Edwardian cars to mark 100 years since the First World War started.

The Queen's cousin and his wife, and 50 Chelsea Pensioners decked out in their iconic scarlet uniforms will take part in the Great War Centenary Parade on Monday (August 4) alongside officials and dignitaries from Britain and Western Front towns in Belgium.

They will be driven from the Royal Hospital Chelsea at 10am up to Parliament Square, past the Cenotaph in Whitehall and up The Mall then across Westminster Bridge to the Imperial War Museum then back to the Royal Hospital.

Chelsea Pensioner and Great War Centenary Parade partaker Sandy Saunders, said: “I speak for all of the Chelsea Pensioners when I say that we are truly honoured to be representing the Army and the fallen here today.

"The Great War earned its name because by the end there was barely a family in England the war hadn’t touched; my Grandfather William Peacock was killed in 1917. It is therefore very important that we all remember the war and its huge impact. This Great War Centenary Parade will be a great spectacle to remind people.”

The parade is a collaboration between the Royal Hospital and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and has been organised by Nicholas Pellet whose grandfather was killed in the ‘war to end all wars’.

He said: “My grandfather was a Private in the Bedfordshires, killed in the tank battle at Cambrai in 1917. I have long felt it imperative that I honour not only him, but also all of the other families affected by the Great War. Monday’s unique commemorative parade will do just that.”

Chelsea Pensioners are taking part in a number of commemorative activities around the UK, Jersey and Belgium on Monday.

Nine of them will be at the vigil in Westminster Abbey alongside the Duchess of Cornwall and many more will be marking their reflection at the Royal Hospital Chelsea by extinguishing electric lights between 10 and 11pm as they light a single candle.

More Chelsea Pensioners are involved in events in Jersey, Glasgow and Folkestone as well as St Symphorien Military Cemetery in Mons with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry of Wales.

Look at the Great War Centenary Parade route here.