Queen Elizabeth’s final trip is most tracked flight in history

The hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II departs RAF Northolt, from where it will be taken to Buckingham Palace, London, to lie at rest overnight in the Bow Room. Picture date: Tuesday September 13, 2022. Andrew Matthews/Pool via REUTERS

Just over 5 million people viewed Queen Elizabeth’s final flight on Tuesday, as the journey carrying the late monarch’s body from Edinburgh to London became the most tracked flight in history.

Flight tracking website Flightradar24 said a total of 4.79 million people watched the flight live online, with a further quarter of million people watching on its YouTube channel.

The company said an unprecedented 6 million people tried to follow the flight within the first minute of the Boeing C17A Globemaster turning on its transponder at Edinburgh’s airport, affecting the stability of the platform.

“Seventy years after her first flight as Queen aboard the BOAC Argonaut ‘Atalanta,’ Queen Elizabeth II’s final flight is the most tracked flight in Flightradar24 history,” Flightradar24 Director of Communications said in an email.

Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, died in Balmoral, Scotland on Sept. 8. Her funeral will take place on Sept. 19.

Flightradar24 said the flight was more than twice the previous record of 2.2 million – when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi flew on a controversial visit to Taiwan in August.

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