A GREENOCK charity chief will join world leaders and royalty when he attends a service in France to mark 100 years since the start of one of the bloodiest battles in history.

Charles Young, who is the chief executive of Greenock Medical Aid Society, and his wife Doreen have been selected to attend an international service of commemoration, hosted by the French and UK governments, at Thiepval Monument in the Somme Region today.

He told the Telegraph it was a ‘great honour’ to be invited to the ceremony, which will also be attended by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, as well as the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande.

Charles, who is one of 10,000 people to be selected through a ballot, told the Telegraph: “Doreen and I have been very fortunate to be selected to attend this important service of remembrance in the heart of the Somme. 

“It will be a long day with guests required to be on site for 6.30am, in time for 7.30am when the first whistle sounded ordering the brave soldiers to climb out of their trenches and run towards the German lines. 

“It will also be a very emotional day and my thoughts will be with the countless numbers of families and communities of all nations which fought in the battle and suffered so badly, the impact of which is still evident to this day. 

“The community of Inverclyde was not immune from this suffering and my thoughts will also be with the people of Inverclyde who lost a loved one at the Somme.

“We will remember them.”

The four month Battle of the Somme was the largest battle to take place on the Western Front – and with more than one million soldiers killed on both sides of the fight, it was also one of the bloodiest in history. 

The offensive took place between the British and French against the German empire and began on July 1, 1916 – the deadliest day in British military history. 

At 7.30am, whistles blew along the trenches and tens of thousands of soldiers climbed into the open of No Man’s Land.  Hordes of British soldiers surged forward into machine gun fire, sacrificing their lives in a desperate bid to push back the German line. 

On the first day of the battle, 19,240 British soldiers lost their lives.

Last night, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry visited the Thiepval Memorial in France, where 70,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave are commemorated.

Today they will be joined by the Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, David Cameron and 10,000 members of the public, including hundreds of schoolchildren, chosen by ballot, for a service of commemoration.

In addition, there will be events across the UK and in France to commemorate the start of the battle – including a two-minute silence at 11am.