King Charles III and different members of the royal household in uniform wore black armbands and noticed a second of silence throughout his annual birthday parade on Saturday to commemorate those that died on this week’s Air India aircraft crash.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive for the Trooping the Color ceremony at Horse Guards Parade, central London, on June 14, 2025.
Jonathan Brady/PA Photos through Getty Photos
The king requested the symbolic strikes “as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy,” Buckingham Palace stated.
(left to proper) The Prince of Wales, Duke of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal through the Trooping the Color ceremony at Horse Guards Parade, central London, on June 14, 2025.
Jonathan Brady/PA Photos through Getty Photos
An Air India flight from the northwestern metropolis of Ahmedabad to London crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday, killing 241 individuals on board and at the least 29 on the bottom. The aircraft was carrying 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. One man survived.
The monarch’s annual birthday parade, often called Trooping the Color, is a historic ceremony full of pageantry and army bands by which the king critiques his troops on Horse Guards Parade adjoining to St. James’ Park in central London.
The army ceremony dates again to a time when flags of the battalion, often called colors, have been “trooped,” or proven, to troopers within the ranks so they may acknowledge them.
The ceremony of Trooping the Color is believed to have first been carried out through the reign of King Charles II. Since 1748, the Trooping of the Color has marked the official birthday of the British Sovereign.
BEN STANSALL/AFP through Getty Photos
Charles, carrying a scarlet army uniform, traveled to Horse Guards Parade in an open-topped, horse-drawn carriage accompanied by Queen Camilla. Prince William and different uniformed members of the royal household rode behind the king on horseback, adopted by Kate, the Princess of Wales, and her three youngsters in one other open-topped carriage.
The festivities featured 1,338 troopers, together with 244 musicians, who paraded previous the king following the second of silence for these affected by the Air India catastrophe.
The royal household then returned to Buckingham Palace, the place they appeared on the balcony to wave to the gang and watch a flyover of army plane.
The finale of the flyover was an look by the Royal Air Drive aerobatic show crew, often called the Pink Arrows, which for the primary time used a mix of sustainable aviation gasoline to energy their plane and generate their signature purple, white and blue smoke trails.
David Beckham, Gary Oldman, others honored by Charles
Former England soccer star David Beckham, Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman and famend musicals singer Elaine Paige have been among the many celebrities and public figures who have been honored by King Charles III forward of the Trooping of Color festivities.
Beckham, Goldman and the Who’s frontman, Roger Daltrey, have been knighted by the king, whereas Paige, Brooker Prize-winning novelist Pat Barker and former Conservative authorities minister Penny Mordaunt got damehoods, the feminine equal of a knighthood.
The honors, which purpose to reward people for his or her contributions to British life, are awarded twice a 12 months to celebrities and public figures in addition to odd individuals: As soon as at New 12 months’s, after which in June to mark the king’s birthday.
The winners are chosen by civil servants’ committees based mostly on nominations from the federal government and the general public. The awards are often given out by the king or a senior royal appearing in his place at Buckingham Palace.
King Charles III shakes fingers with David Beckham and Meryl Streep, as they attend the King’s Basis Awards ceremony, on the thirty fifth anniversary of The King’s Basis, at St James’s Palace on June 12, 2025 in London, England.
Chris J. Ratcliffe – WPA Pool/Getty Photos
“Growing up in east London with parents and grandparents who were so patriotic and proud to be British, I never could have imagined I would receive such a truly humbling honor,” stated Beckham, who was knighted for his companies to sport and to charity for his partnerships with UNICEF and the U.N.’s youngsters’s fund.
Daltrey, acknowledged for companies to charity in addition to music, has been a patron of “Teenage Cancer Trust” since 2000. He stated he was humbled by the award.
“It’s a dream come true for me, but it’s especially a dream because the charity means so much,” he stated.
Paige stated she is proud, grateful, thrilled and stunned by the glory.
“I’ve got all these different emotions coming at me all at once,” she stated.
