King Charles honours air crash victims at military parade

LONDON - A minute’s silence for victims of the Air India plane disaster was held on June 14 at a London birthday parade for King Charles III, in which some members of the royal family also wore black arm bands.

The king, 76, requested amendments to the parade, known as Trooping the Colour, “as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy”, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said.

A total 279 people, including passengers, crew and people on the ground, died on June 12 when a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London’s Gatwick Airport crashed on take-off from Ahmedabad in eastern India.

The victims included 52 Britons. A sole survivor has been named as British man Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, from the central English city of Leicester.

In a written message after the disaster, King Charles said he was “desperately shocked by the terrible events” and expressed his “deepest possible sympathy”.

Trooping the Colour, a minutely choreographed military tradition dating back more than two centuries, marks the British sovereign’s official birthday.

It starts at Buckingham Palace and moves down The Mall to Horse Guards Parade, where Charles receives a royal salute before inspecting soldiers.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the palace and along The Mall to watch the spectacle.

They included a small group of anti-monarchist protesters with yellow placards reading “not my king” and “down with the crown”.

Charles, who is still undergoing weekly treatment for an unspecified cancer, was accompanied by Queen Camilla for the parade.

Also present were heir to the throne Prince William, 42, his wife Catherine, also known as Kate, and their three children: George, 11, Charlotte, 10 and Louis, seven.

No Harry

Catherine, 43, whose formal title is Princess of Wales, has also