BRUSSELS - European royals and diplomats gathered in Belgium on Thursday to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, a turning point for the continent which still touches a nerve and stirs national passions.
Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri (R) and the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa walk to a ceremony marking the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in Waterloo, Belgium on June 18, 2015
The stress was on modern-day reconciliation and the sacrifice of some 47,000 dead or wounded soldiers on the fields around the small drab town just south of Brussels, the target of Napoleon's ill-fated drive north in June 1815.
France and Germany however only sent their ambassadors to a ceremony that attracted kings and dukes from elsewhere in Europe, reflecting that fact that history still runs deep in a corner of the continent scarred by centuries of war.
Just as two centuries ago when the French emperor faced off against allied forces, it rained overnight and the skies were overcast for the ceremonies, carried live on Belgian television.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called for unity in a "European project" which faces modern-day challenges of conflict on its borders in Ukraine and economic worries.
"The enemies of yesterday are the allies of today" said Michel.
- 'European hope' -
The solemn ceremonies began at 11:00 am (0900 GMT), the moment the first musket balls flew as Anglo-Dutch forces led by Britain's Duke of Wellington engaged Napoleon's famed and once invincible Grande Armee.
In Britain, the focus was on a special service at St Paul's Cathedral attended by the heir to the throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla.
On Wednesday, Charles had unveiled a memorial at the Hougoumont Farmhouse, where allied forces fought off repeated French attacks as Napoleon desperately sought to break their lines.
Standing at the foot of the famous Waterloo monument topped by a defiant lion looking south, Michel said the bloodshed had not been for nothing because Waterloo ushered in the modern era and the idea of a united Europe.
"A European hope took form for the first time, even if only for a brief time," he said.
Waterloo remains a sensitive subject, especially for France which now sees itself as a pillar of the European Union alongside Germany, and whose relationship to the diminutive Napoleon remains ambivalent.
"History is behind us," French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told BFMTV.
French President Francois Hollande, he noted, was due to attend ceremonies marking the June 18, 1940 rallying call issued by General de Gaulle over the BBC for resistance against German forces in France.
As for Napoleon, Le Drian said he recognised his great achievements but also "certain failures, this drive for power and extending borders which was not right."
Belgium angered France this month by minting a special 2.5-euro Waterloo coin after France forced it to scrap a two-euro coin saying it would cause an "unfavourable reaction in France".
- Thousands of spectators -
A total of 200,000 spectators are expected to make their way to Waterloo, starting with Thursday's commemorative service and ending with two days of battle re-enactments on Friday and Saturday.
Belgium's King Philippe led the attendance, which included the Grand-Duke of Luxembourg and the Duke of Kent, the cousin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, along with Frans Timmermans, the first vice-president of the European Commission.
The absence of Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel was cause for regret.
"It's a shame," Charles Bonaparte, a descendant of Napoleon's brother Jerome, said Wednesday.
In a symbolic meeting Wednesday, Charles Bonaparte on Wednesday shook hands with the current day Duke of Wellington, and Prince Nikolaus Bluecher von Wahlstatt, whose ancestor led the Prussians who saved the day for the allied forces.
The battle was a pivotal moment in European history, when around 93,000 French troops led by Napoleon faced off against 125,000 British, German and Belgian-Dutch forces commanded by the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Bluecher.
Finally defeated by an alliance of monarchies determined to end years of European war following the 1789 French Revolution, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Saint Helena in the south Atlantic Ocean, where he died in 1821.
The victors redrew the map of Europe and the continent enjoyed almost a century of relative peace until the carnage of World War I tore it apart again.