LONDON, June 15: 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 yesterday.
Charles’ official birthday, reported PA Media/dpa news, 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 cheers 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, all wearing black armbands – the Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards; the Princess Royal, Colonel of the Blues and Royals; and the Duke of Edinburgh, Colonel of the Scots Guards.
The royal procession was accompanied by the Sovereign’s Escort of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, to the sound 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 was observed after the king inspected the guardsmen on the parade ground. It was signalled by a bugler sounding the Last Post and ended 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.
–BERNAMA-PA MEDIA/dpa