Prince George, Charlotte and Louis appear with William and Kate at VE Day event
Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis made a rare joint appearance with their parents, Prince William and Princess Kate, on Monday, May 5, 2025, as the British royal family marked the 80th anniversary of VE Day—Victory in Europe Day.
The family joined King Charles III, Queen Camilla, and other senior royals at the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace for a military procession commemorating the end of World War II in Europe.
The royal siblings, last seen together at the Christmas Day service in Sandringham, surprised many with their unannounced attendance. They greeted veterans and observed the parade alongside their parents, pausing to interact with guests before settling into their seats. Princess Charlotte, who had just turned 10 on May 2, shared a lighthearted moment with 7-year-old Prince Louis, who grinned widely, revealing his gap-toothed smile.
They were joined by Prince Edward, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Anne, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester represented the monarchy abroad at a VE Day commemoration in Denmark.
King Charles took the salute from over 1,300 members of the Armed Forces who participated in the parade. Following the ceremony, the royal family gathered to watch a flypast of Royal Air Force aircraft from the palace balcony.
Later in the day, King Charles and Queen Camilla were scheduled to host a tea party for World War II veterans and their families at the palace. Prince William and Princess Kate were also expected to attend the reception, though without their children.
The VE Day commemoration reflects the royal family's long-standing commitment to honoring military service. The royals will continue the tributes throughout the week, culminating in a national Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey on May 8.
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Express Tribune
5 days ago
- Express Tribune
Families hold funerals for Air India crash victims
Mourners covered white coffins with flowers in India on Sunday as funerals were held for some of at least 279 killed in one of the world's worst plane crashes in decades. Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing, delivering them to grieving relatives in the western city of Ahmedabad, but the wait went on for most families. "They said it would take 48 hours. But it's been four days and we haven't received any response," said Rinal Christian, 23, whose elder brother was a passenger. There was just one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the Air India jet when it crashed Thursday into a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing at least 38 people on the ground. "My brother was the sole breadwinner of the family," Christian told AFP. "So what happens next?" At a crematorium in the city, around 20 to 30 mourners chanted prayers in a funeral ceremony for Megha Mehta, a passenger who had been working in London. As of Sunday evening 47 crash victims have been identified, according to Rajnish Patel, a doctor at Ahmedabad's civil hospital. "This is a meticulous and slow process, so it has to be done meticulously only," Patel said Saturday. One victim's relative who did not want to be named told AFP they had been instructed not to open the coffin when they receive it. Witnesses reported seeing badly burnt bodies and scattered remains. Workers went on clearing debris from the site on Sunday, while police inspected the area. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted into a fireball when it went down moments after takeoff, smashing into buildings used by medical staff. The majority of those injured on the ground have been discharged, Patel said, with one or two remaining in critical care. Indian authorities are yet to detail the cause of the disaster and have ordered inspections of Air India's Dreamliners. Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday he hoped decoding the recovered black box, or flight data recorder, would "give an in-depth insight" into what went wrong. Imtiyaz Ali, who was still waiting for a DNA match to find his brother, said the airline should have supported families faster. "I'm disappointed in them. It is their duty," said Ali, who was contacted by the airline on Saturday. "Next step is to find out the reason for this accident. We need to know," he told AFP. Just one person miraculously escaped the wreckage, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members. Among the passengers was a father of two young girls, Arjun Patoliya, who had travelled to India to scatter his wife's ashes following her death weeks earlier. "I really hope that those girls will be looked after by all of us," said Anjana Patel, the mayor of London's Harrow borough where some of the victims lived. "We don't have any words to describe how the families and friends must be feeling," she added. While communities were in mourning, one woman recounted how she survived only by arriving late at the airport. "The airline staff had already closed the check-in," said 28-year-old Bhoomi Chauhan. "At that moment, I kept thinking that if only we had left a little earlier, we wouldn't have missed our flight," she told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Business Recorder
6 days ago
- Business Recorder
Families hold funerals for Air India crash victims
AHMEDABAD: Grieving families held funerals in India on Sunday for their relatives who were among at least 279 killed in one of the world's worst plane crashes in decades. Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing, delivering them in white coffins in the western city of Ahmedabad. 'My heart is very heavy, how do we give the bodies to the families?' said Tushar Leuva, an NGO worker who has been helping with the recovery efforts. There was just one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the Air India jet when it crashed Thursday into a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing at least 38 people on the ground. 'How will they react when they open the gate? But we'll have to do it,' Leuva told AFP at the mortuary on Saturday. One victim's relative who did not want to be named told AFP they had been instructed not to open the coffin when they receive it. Witnesses reported seeing badly burnt bodies and scattered remains. Around 20 to 30 mourners gathered at a crematorium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, chanting prayers in a funeral ceremony for Megha Mehta, a passenger who had been working in London. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted into a fireball when it went down moments after takeoff, smashing into buildings used by medical staff. Mourning relatives have been providing DNA samples to be matched with passengers, with 32 identified as of Sunday. 'This is a meticulous and slow process, so it has to be done meticulously only,' Rajnish Patel, a doctor at Ahmedabad's civil hospital, said late Saturday. The majority of those injured on the ground have been discharged, he added, with one or two remaining in critical care. Girls orphaned by crash Indian authorities are yet to detail the cause of the disaster and have ordered inspections of Air India's Dreamliners. Air India plane crash: reactions from across the world Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday he hoped decoding the recovered black box, or flight data recorder, would 'give an in-depth insight' into what went wrong. Just one person miraculously escaped the wreckage, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members. Among the passengers was a father of two young girls, Arjun Patoliya, who had travelled to India to scatter his wife's ashes following her death weeks earlier. 'I really hope that those girls will be looked after by all of us,' said Anjana Patel, the mayor of London's Harrow borough where some of the victims lived. 'We don't have any words to describe how the families and friends must be feeling,' she added. While communities were in mourning, one woman recounted how she survived only by arriving late at the airport. 'At that moment, I kept thinking that if only we had left a little earlier, we wouldn't have missed our flight,' she told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Business Recorder
7 days ago
- Business Recorder
Death toll in India plane crash rises to at least 279
AHMEDABAD: The death toll from the fiery crash of a London-bound passenger jet in an Indian city climbed to 279 on Saturday as officials sought to match the DNA of victims with their grieving relatives. The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call shortly before it crashed around lunchtime on Thursday, bursting into a fireball as it hit residential buildings. A police source said on Saturday that 279 bodies had been found at the crash site in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, making it one of the worst plane disasters of the 21st century. 'Nobody can fill the void left by loss,' said Imtiyaz Ali, whose younger brother boarded the plane. 'I can't even begin to explain what's going on inside me,' he told AFP. There was just one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the jet when it crashed, leaving the tailpiece of the aircraft jutting out of a hostel for medical staff. Air India Dreamliner crashes into Ahmedabad college hostel, kills over 290 Emergency services kept up their recovery efforts on Saturday, extracting a badly burnt body from the tailpiece before cranes were used to remove the wreckage. At least 38 people were killed on the ground. 'I saw my child for the first time in two years, it was a great time,' said Anil Patel, whose son and daughter-in-law had surprised him with a visit before boarding the Air India flight. 'And now, there is nothing,' he said, breaking down in tears. 'Whatever the gods wanted has happened.' Search for black box Distraught relatives of passengers have been providing DNA samples in Ahmedabad, with some having to fly to India to help with the process. The first body of a passenger to be handed over to relatives was placed in a white coffin on Saturday before being transported in an ambulance with a police escort, footage from the state government showed. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members. The official casualty number will not be finalised until the slow process of DNA identification is completed. Those killed ranged from a top politician to a teenage tea seller. The lone survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, said even he could not explain how he survived. 'Initially, I too thought that I was about to die, but then I opened my eyes and realised that I was still alive,' Ramesh, a British citizen, told national broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed. Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said on Friday that a flight data recorder, or black box, had been recovered, saying it would 'significantly aid' investigations. Forensic teams are still looking for the second black box as they probe why the plane lost height and crashed straight after takeoff. The aviation minister said on Saturday that authorities 'felt the need to do an extended surveillance of the Boeing 787 planes', with eight out of Air India's 34 Dreamliners inspected so far. Officials will take 'whatever necessary steps are needed' to determine the cause of the disaster as soon as possible, he said. The US planemaker said it was in touch with Air India and stood 'ready to support them' over the incident. A source close to the case said it was the first 787 Dreamliner crash.
