British royals travel to France to remember Battle of the Somme

Britain's royals arrived in northern France on Thursday to mark the 100th anniversary of one of history's bloodiest clashes, the Battle of the Somme, on the former World War I battlefields.

Prince William, his wife Kate and brother Harry were set to attend a vigil at the Thiepval Memorial surrounded by the bucolic fields where about 1 million British, French and German troops lost their lives in the nearly five-month battle.

Some 20,000 British forces died on that first day of the battle, the bloodiest day in the country's military history, while thousands more were maimed and wounded.