A light and sound show in London?s Trafalgar Square was the finale of celebrations held over recent weeks to mark the 200th anniversary of the epic battle after which the square is named. Thousands watched as lights lit up the night sky and listened to a history of the royal navy on Sunday evening. The Battle of Trafalgar, one of Britain?s most important maritime victories was orchestrated by Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, one of the country?s most celebrated naval commanders, who was killed at the height of the battle by a French sniper.

Under the leadership of the charismatic Nelson a British fleet defeated a Franco-Spanish force off the port of Cadiz in southwestern Spain in a victory that spelled the beginning of the end for Napoleon Bonaparte?s French Empire. Earlier on Sunday the Duke of York led a wreath-laying ceremony at the base of the Nelson?s column monument in Trafalgar Square and was later joined by other members of the royal family, including Prince Charles, at a service at St Paul?s Cathedral, where the admiral is buried. British interest in Trafalgar and Nelson has grown in recent weeks. Last month a flotilla of small boats restaged Nelson?s funeral procession as it made its way from Greenwich in east London to Westminster. In Spain, the anniversary was marked on Friday in a more sombre tone with tributes paid to the 5,000 sailors from all three navies who perished in the battle.