King Charles honours Air India crash victims at Trooping the Colour
14 June 2025 17:36
London (PA Media/dpa) Britain's King Charles III wore a black armband in tribute to those killed in the Air India plane crash as the Trooping the Colour ceremony staged in his honour began.Charles' official birthday was marked with a display of military pomp and pageantry but at the king's request the event acknowledged the aviation disaster that claimed the lives of 241 passengers and crew, including more than 50 British nationals, as well as around 30 people on the ground.The head of state and his wife left Buckingham Palace in a carriage at the head of a procession travelling along The Mall and into Horse Guards Parade where hundreds of guardsmen were on parade.The appearance of the prince and princess of wales' children sparked cheering when they were spotted in a carriage with their mother, Kate.Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis followed the king and queen, with other coaches carrying the duchess of Edinburgh, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, and the duke and duchess of Gloucester. Riding behind Charles were the royal colonels wearing black armbands - the prince of wales, who is colonel of the Welsh Guards; the princess royal, colonel of the blues and royals; and the duke ofedinburgh as colonel of the Scots Guards. The royal procession was accompanied by the Sovereign's Escort of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment and the sounds of the Band of the Household Cavalry, led by two shire drum horses bearing solid silver kettle drums.Senior officers taking part in Trooping also wore black arm bands as a mark of respect for the aviation victims, as did the coachmen and women from the Royal Mews, driving carriages carrying members of the royal family or riding on a coach's lead horse as a postilion.A minute's silence will be observed after the king has inspected the guardsmen on the parade ground. It will be signalled by a bugler sounding the Last Post and will end with the Reveille. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said the king had requested amendments to the Trooping the Colour programme "as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy."
In 2017, Trooping was held a few days after the Grenfell Tower blaze and the loss of life was marked by a minute's silence in a decision taken by Queen Elizabeth II.
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