King to mark official birthday with Trooping the Colour parade
The King will celebrate his official birthday with the Trooping the Colour parade.
Military pomp and pageantry will be on display in central London to mark the milestone but the event will also remember those killed in the Air India plane crash.
The King has requested a minute’s silence be observed in tribute to the 241 passengers and crew killed, and others affected, when a Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for Gatwick Airport came down on Thursday in the Indian city of Ahmedabad.
Black armbands will also be worn by the head of state and senior royals riding in the ceremony, also known as the King’s Birthday Parade, staged in Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall.
On horseback and wearing the armbands will be the Royal Colonels – Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, the Princess Royal, Colonel Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Edinburgh, Colonel Scots Guards.
The Queen, the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh are expected to be among the royal party watching the event and royal fans will hope Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will join them as they did last year.
Members of the royal family not taking part in the parade and who normally watch events from the Duke of Wellington’s former office will not wear black armbands.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said the King 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, a decision taken by Queen Elizabeth II.
The King issued a written message soon after the Air India plane crash saying he was “desperately shocked by the terrible events” and expressing his “deepest possible sympathy”.
He was kept updated about the developing situation on Thursday and it later emerged there was a sole survivor, UK national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh.
Trooping the Colour will see more than 1,000 servicemen taking part in the military display who when not performing ceremonial duties are fighting soldiers.
The colour – regimental flag – being trooped this year is the King’s Colour of Number 7 Company, Coldstream Guards, a prestigious regiment known as the sovereign’s bodyguard which is celebrating its 375th anniversary this year.
The day will end with the royal family gathering on Buckingham Palace’s balcony for the traditional RAF flypast.
