Grenfell Tower memorial - live updates: Emotional service concludes with survivors and relatives holding up images of loved ones who died in blaze

Prince William and and the Duchess of Cambridge have now arrived at St Paul's Cathedral.

The Independent's Harriet Agerholm: "Chimes from the cathedral sound particularly sombre this morning - it is turning 11am, when the ceremony begins. Crowd outside waiting quietly."

The Grenfell Heart is being carried through St Paul's service by a vicar and a representative of a local mosque as the service gets underway.

The memorial service gets underway with a hymn and a welcome from the Dean of St Paul's. (BBC screengrab)

The Dean of St Paul's tells the audience "we come together from different faiths and none" and that everyone is "united in the face of suffering and sorrow".

A reading of Matthew 5, 1-12: The Reverend Canon Tricia Hillas by the Canon Pastor is now underway.

With the hour-long service underway, the council linked to the tragedy, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, are also observing 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.'' 

An audio montage of voices from the Grenfell area has been played to the congregation.

A male voice said of the fire: "We were lost for words, we did not know what to do, how to react. I have never known anything like it in my life."

Another said: "The comfort is just being together, the comfort is just having each other."

The Al-Sadiq and Al-Zahra Schools Girls' Choir then sang out the poignant words "Never lose hope".

  ↵With the service underway, the Lords is discussing what government action is being taken to ensure that Grenfell Tower fire survivors do not spend Christmas and New Year in temporary accommodation.

The Bishop of Kensington, the Right Reverend Graham Tomlin, said he hoped the service would reassure those present that they were not forgotten by the nation, and that it would signify the start of a change.

"As we come to the end of this difficult year, as we celebrate Christmas, as we move into a new year, nothing can remove the memory of that night - nor do we want to forget those dearly loved people who were lost," he said.

"And yet my hope and prayer is that this new year can bring new hope of a future, a vision of a city where we lose our self-obsession and listen and learn from places and people that we wouldn't normally think of reaching out to."

He added that he hoped the word "Grenfell" would transform over time from a symbol of "sorrow, grief or injustice" to "a symbol of the time we learnt a new and better way - to listen and to love".