King Charles III and members of the royal family solemnly commemorated those who died in this week’s Air India plane crash during the monarch’s annual birthday parade on Saturday, The Associated Press reported.
Royal Family Pays Tribute Amid Birthday Celebrations
The king requested the royal family to wear black armbands and observe a moment of silence as a “mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy,” Buckingham Palace said, per the AP.
Air India Plane Crash Devastates Multiple Nations
The tragedy occurred on Thursday when an Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London crashed shortly after takeoff. The disaster claimed 241 lives onboard and at least 29 more on the ground.
Passengers included 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian. Miraculously, there was one survivor.
Trooping the Colour: Tradition Meets Remembrance
Trooping the Colour is a historic military ceremony celebrating the sovereign’s official birthday, featuring pageantry and marching bands on Horse Guards Parade, near St. James’s Park in central London.
The ceremony dates back centuries to when military battalions displayed their “colours” or flags to troops for identification.
During this year’s event, King Charles stood on the dais after reviewing the troops as all royal family members in uniform wore black armbands and observed a moment of silence in honour of the Air India victims, the report said.
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