Zoe Ball wipes away tears while watching flypast at Dame Vera Lynn’s funeral  

Zoe Ball was among the mourners at the funeral for Dame Vera Lynn’s funeral in Ditchling, Sussex, on Friday.

The TV presenter, who lives nearby in East Sussex, was pictured wiping away tears as she watched aSpitfire and Hurricane flypast before the funeral. 

Zoe’s boyfriend Michael Reed comforted the emotional star as they joined hundreds of other mourners lining the streets of the village.

Zoe, 49, was dressed in a blue print dress and wore sunglasses as she wiped away tears after watching the flypast. 

Her boyfriend costruction boss Michael, 48, wrapped his arm around her and kissed her as they applauded with the rest of the crowd. 

The couple rekindled their romance earlier this year after briefly splitting last November. 

Dame Vera Lynn,who risked her own life to entertain troops with morale-boosting visits to the front line during the conflict, died aged 103 on June 18 and on Friday the historic aircraft tore across the clear East Sussex sky in a poignant tribute to one of Britain’s best-known and best-loved singers.

On her final journey to the church in the picturesque village of Ditchling, mourners lined the streets to see the hearse carrying her coffin wrapped in a Union Flag, which was guided by members of all three Armed Forces and followed by her family.

Poignantly her funeral coincides with the 80th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Britain, in which the Royal Air Force defeated the Luftwaffe and staved off invasion from Hitler’s forces in France.

Minutes after the funeral began the Queen’s official Twitter account said: ‘Today marks the 80th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Britain, the battle which turned the tide of World War Two. I remember the Battle of Britain being fought in the skies above us, and we shall never forget the courage and sacrifice of that time’. Her Majesty sent a private message of condolence to her family after her death.

Dame Vera became a symbol of freedom for the men often thousands of miles from home and songs such as ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’ gave them hope in their darkest hours that they would one day return to their loved-ones in Britain.

And at home hits such as ‘There’ll Always Be An England’ gave millions belief better days lay ahead as the Luftwaffe lay siege to UK cities during the Blitz and threatened invasion from France before the Allies swept Hitler’s forces aside.

While her music was a beacon of hope between 1939 and 1945, her words in ‘We’ll Meet Again’ resonated again in the current coronavirus pandemic with Her Majesty using them to inspire modern Britain to evoke the spirit of its wartime generation and battle through the coronavirus crisis.