The King’s birthday is celebrated with an RAF flypast as the slimmed-down royal family gathers on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch.King Charles III and Queen Camilla are joined on the balcony by the Prince and Princess of Wales, alongside their three children, George, Charlotte and Louis.Crowds can be heard cheering with many chanting “God save the King” and “we love the King”.Anti-monarchy protesters threatened to spoil proceedings by responding with chants of “not my King”.But the sound of the flypast cut through the chants with people turning their attention to the planes soaring past.
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00:00Members of the royal family on the balcony ahead of this fly pass just getting underway as we speak.
00:11We can see the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duchess of Edinburgh, Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, King and Queen, Prince George, Prince Charlotte, Prince Louis, the Waleses and the Duke of Kent on that famous balcony.
00:23And we are hearing over our heads four Chinooks in a box formation fly over Buckingham Palace as we speak.
00:31I'm hoping we could maybe bring you pictures of the aircraft flying over very slowly over Buckingham Palace.
00:36Here we are. So these are the four Chinooks you're seeing on your screen in a box formation.
00:42On the left, we have members of the royal family watching the fly pass or watching the fly pass taking place.
00:50I can see Princess Charlotte perhaps talking to her father, the Prince of Wales.
00:55I can hear over my head now a Lancaster bomber from the Second World War, of course, part of the Battle of Britain memorial flight.
01:05We saw the Lancaster fly on VE Day just about a month ago.
01:11But, of course, the famous iconic aircraft that everybody, I think, knows about harking back to a time of proper British patriotism, Pandora, and, of course, celebrating victory in Europe as well.
01:24Yeah. And, of course, the little ones will know all the different planes now going past because they've seen it over the past few years on Trooping the Colour.
01:33So I'm sure they'll be looking out for their favourite.
01:36They certainly will, indeed. Of course, we've got a number of planes left to fly over, of course.
01:41We are expecting the next wave coming over. Here we go.
01:45So there is one Venom and two Texans flying over as we speak.
01:52So there are the two Texans and the one Venom flying over Buckingham Palace, just to the right of the palace.
01:59And I'm looking at members of the royal family, the King and the Prince of Wales, just having a bit of a natter as those three aircraft fly over.
02:07Of course, all of these aircraft kind of congregate in formation over the south-east of England before flying down the Mall over the City of London and down the Mall and over Buckingham Palace.
02:18So it takes quite a lot of choreography, Pandora. It's quite the challenge, perhaps.
02:23Oh, very much so. This is... Oh, we can just hear another one now.
02:28You can usually hear them before you see them.
02:30You can. This is the RAFA 400 aircraft, if you wanted to know.
02:36That was quite a large one, it has to be said.
02:39But as you can see, all the different interactions on the left-hand side with the royals,
02:44probably speaking about which one is which, with their grandparents and giving them a bit of a, right, this is this, this is this.
02:50Expect this in a minute.
02:51And, of course, just trying to keep everybody, they're public-facing, got hundreds of people looking at them.
02:58So, as I said earlier, probably very much being told to be on their best behaviour here.
03:02And, of course, the King and Queen in the middle, and they do look very happy, it has to be said.
03:06They do. And Prince Louis just stood in front of his father, the Prince of Wales.
03:11And here is the RAF Voyager aircraft, decked out in red, white and blue, accompanied by two RAF Typhoons.
03:23The Voyager, of course, is the aircraft used by His Majesty the King and senior politicians, such as the Prime Minister,
03:29to represent the United Kingdom abroad.
03:32So, effectively, the equivalent of Air Force One, but for the United Kingdom.
03:37So, of course, that's going to have to fly over in this, in this flypast on the King's birthday.
03:41Yes, of course. And it goes without saying, obviously, there have been working members of the Royal Family
03:47who have worked in the military, who have a completely different affinity to some of these aircrafts as well,
03:53such as the Prince of Wales.
03:54Absolutely. And, of course, the Prince of Wales and the King, both helicopter pilots themselves.
04:00The Prince of Wales is an RAF Search and Rescue Helicopter pilots in Anglesey.
04:04We can see another plane flying over now.
04:06That is an RAF P-8 aircraft just flying over the palace.
04:10Now, I have sat here for many a flypast over the last few years, Pandora.
04:16There is a big gap between the aircrafts, usually in quite a quick formation.
04:21Of course, it's a bit different this year.
04:23We're not entirely sure as to why, but what it does show us is the Royal Family, of course,
04:28overlooking their people who have all queued up on the Mall to see British pomp and pageantry in action,
04:35but also the very best of the British Royal Air Force in action.
04:39Yeah, this is very much celebrating the Air Force today, as well as celebrating the King's birthday, too.
04:47And there we go. There we see it. And we see three more men.
04:50Yes, this is an RAF C-17 aircraft, which perhaps was poignantly quite famous for bringing the late Queen's coffin from Scotland back to London following her death in 2022.
05:01It also brought back a number of our fallen service personnel from Afghanistan and Iraq.
05:06And that's exactly what I mean about the Royal Family having very much a different take with some of these aircrafts,
05:14which many, many people who are here won't actually know that.
05:18But that is a brilliant bit of intel there. Thank you, Cameron.
05:21Yes. And the RAF C-17 aircraft was actually accompanied by two F-35 fighter jets.
05:27And just flying over our heads now are four RAF, very noisy, typhoons.
05:35So four typhoon aircrafts flying over.
05:37I remember this time two years ago, Prince Louis just waving to members of the crowds there,
05:43seemingly a little bit ignoring the planes, but sailor be.
05:45I remember a few years ago, for the Queen's Diamond, not Diamond, Platinum Jubilee,
05:49he had his hands in his ears because it was so loud.
05:52He did, he did. And at one point, I think Charlotte might have put a hand over someone.
05:59Something happened on the balcony. There was another moment.
06:01But there's been so many of these classic, classic family moments over the years.
06:05It doesn't matter if you're part of the Royal Family or any family, these moments happen.
06:09And here we are, the grand finale.
06:12Nine RAF Red Arrows flying over Buckingham Palace
06:16with their red, white and fire, blue smoke.
06:24Over, down the Mall and over Buckingham Palace, the colours of the Union flag.
06:29And to King Charles' delight, it is biofuel that has ignited that fuel to create that smoke, Pandora.
06:35It has indeed. And the crowd is cheering and clapping here.
06:39What a moment that must have been as well for him with the sustainable fuel.
06:44And it actually hasn't affected the colour or anything either.
06:47So you still get that magnificent display here.
06:50You wouldn't have known. You certainly wouldn't have known.
06:51The Royal Family members there looking on as members of the crowd catch a glimpse
06:57and wave union flags. The National Anthem is being played
07:01as the Royal Family look on at the crowds,
07:05some of which have been waiting since 3 o'clock this morning,
07:07as we've been saying, Pandora.