King Charles remembers victims of Air India plane crash at birthday parade: ‘Mark of respect’

King Charles III and other members of the royal family wore black armbands and held a moment of silence during his annual birthday parade on Saturday, in memory of those who lost their lives in this week’s Air India plane crash.

The King requested these symbolic acts “as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy,” according to a statement from Buckingham Palace.

The tragic crash happened on Thursday, when an Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London went down shortly after takeoff. A total of 241 people on board were killed, along with at least 29 people on the ground. Among the passengers were 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese citizens and one Canadian. Only one man survived.

As well as being the King of the United Kingdom, Charles also serves as the head of the Commonwealth, a group of independent nations that includes both India and Canada.

The monarch’s annual birthday parade, known as Trooping the Colour, is a historic ceremony filled with pageantry and military bands in which the king reviews his troops on Horse Guards Parade adjacent to St. James’ Park in central London.

The military ceremony dates back to a time when flags of the battalion, known as colours, were "trooped,'' or shown, to soldiers in the ranks so they could recognize them.

All members of the royal family in uniform wore black armbands. The moment of silence occurred while the king was on the dais after reviewing the troops.

Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, held a similar moment of silence in 2017 when Trooping the Colour took place three days after a fire ripped through the Grenfell Tower apartment bloc in west London, killing 72 people.

(With inputs from agency)