Survivors, bereaved families, the local community and first responders were joined by the Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, the Duchess and Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry at the event at St Paul's Cathedral in central London.

Prime Minister Theresa May, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn were among the politicians accompanying more than 1,500 guests for the 11am service.

The memorial focused on remembering the 71 victims of the June 14 tower block blaze, and providing those affected with messages of support, strength and hope for the future.

As the hour-long service began, the council linked to the tragedy, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), observed a minute's silence at the town hall in High Street Kensington.

Council leader Elizabeth Campbell was not present at the service after some families said they would not want the council to attend in an official capacity.

She said it was only right to "respect the wishes of those involved in the service", adding: "I want them to know that we will be thinking of them."

After the service, Mr Corbyn said that he was "here to try to change things" as he met an emotional crowd of mourners outside.

Many mourners hugged the Labour leader and said they were relying on him to get them “justice”.

sked how it felt to witness the outpouring of passion, Mr Corbyn, who was joined by shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, said: "Very moving because they're going through hurt, they've gone through a crisis six months ago.

"They haven't had the housing they should have had since then, but they are still reliving the trauma of that night.

"People are very angry and I understand that, I'm here to listen to them, I'm here to work and I'm here to try to change things."

Mr Corbyn said: "The service was extremely moving and I thought the most moving part was the children laying the green hearts with the Grenfell banner in front and the singing of There's A Place For Us from West Side Story, it's a lovely song.

"Out here, the questions still have to be answered – why, why have so many families not been rehoused?

"Why are so many still going through such stress of not knowing what the future holds? That came from all of those that delivered prayers and messages today, we have to ensure they have been rehoused.

"The inquiry has to come up with some very strong answers to some very tough questions about the building, the cladding and the performance of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea."

The singer Adele, who is supporting a Grenfell Tower Inquiry that gives survivors more confidence in the probe, attended the memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral.

The award-winning pop star, dressed in black, stopped with actress Carey Mulligan to speak to someone in the congregation before the service started.

Earlier this month, the Hello singer backed a petition calling for Theresa May to take urgent action to restore survivors' faith in the public inquiry.

Posting a link to the petition, which has more than 16,000 signatures, – said to be backed by families of around 50 victims, along with Grenfell United, an association of survivors from Grenfell Tower and nearby Grenfell Walk – Adele wrote: "Please sign this with me!

"We need your help to sign and spread the petition and encourage others to do the same.

"It's been almost 6 months now, we must keep on talking about what is still not happening xx."

The singer, who sat between Mulligan and her husband Marcus Mumford during the service, took an early interest in the aftermath of the blaze.

At around 1am on June 15, she paid a low-key visit to the site, staying for around 15 minutes.

Pictures of the star, who was born in Tottenham, north London, later emerged on Twitter.

Six days after the tragedy, she surprised firefighters when she turned up to thank them for their work, by banging on the window and offering cake.

The 29-year-old star visited them for "a cup of tea and a cuddle" and joined in a minute's silence at a fire station in Chelsea.