LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — A minute’s silence for victims of the Air India plane disaster was held on Saturday 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 Thursday 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, Charles said he was “desperately shocked by the terrible events” and expressed his “deepest possible sympathy”.