Princess Anne pays tribute to Lockerbie bombing victims during solemn trip to Scotland

Princess Anne pays tribute to Lockerbie bombing victims during solemn trip to Scotland

Watch: Princess Anne delivers a speech to Korean War veterans at Buckingham Palace

GB News
Hannah Ross

By Hannah Ross


Published: 25/03/2024

- 19:59

The Princess Royal paid her respects to those who died in the Lockerbie bombing in 1988

  • Princess Anne laid a wreath down at the Lockerbie Air Disaster Memorial in Dumfries
  • Previous members of the Royal Family have visited the memorial site over the years
  • A detonated bomb on a plane flying over Scotland killed 270 people

Princess Anne paid tribute to Lockerbie bombing victims during a visit to Scotland on Monday.

The Princess Royal visited the Lockerbie Air Disaster Memorial in Dumfries today to commemorate the victims of the attack.


Princess Anne was pictured laying a wreath down in front of a memorial for those who lost their lives in the tragedy.

On December 21, 1988, an explosion on board the Boeing 747 killed 270 people. This was the deadliest terrorist attack to have taken place in Britain at the time.

Princess Anne

The Princess Royal visited the Lockerbie Air Disaster Memorial

PA

The Pan Am Flight 103 was travelling from London to New York City but exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland.

A time-activated bomb, which was hidden in a cassette player stored in a suitcase, detonated during the flight killing all those on board and 11 people on the ground.

During the Princess Royal’s visit to Lockerbie’s Garden of Remembrance, she met with representatives from Police Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway Council, Dryfesdale Lodge Trust and the Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries.

Fiona Armstrong, the Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries, was a newsreader at the time of the bombing and covered the attack.

Princess Anne

Princess Anne laid a wreath down at the memorial site

PA

The princess also signed a visitor guestbook at the centre and unveiled a small plaque created for her visiting the site.

Armstrong said: “I was there on that night and I saw first-hand how this town rallied, how it copes and has continued to cope over the decades.

“You could never be more proud of a community. A disaster like this can never be forgotten.

“So much grief, such senseless losses, 270 innocent lives, remembered here on this memorial, each and every name will never be forgotten.

Princess Anne and Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries Fiona Armstrong

Princess Anne stands alongside Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries Fiona Armstrong

PA

“Lockerbie’s motto is forward, and we move together in hope.

“Your Royal Highness, your brother, now the King, came here following the disaster.

“Your mother, the late Queen; your father, the Duke of Edinburgh; also came here some years after to pay their respects.

“And how we are honoured to have you here today, as the Princess Royal, but we also ask you to lay a wreath, please, of remembrance.”

Princess Anne

The Lockerbie disaster killed 270 people

PA

The late Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Lockerbie in 1993 to attend a memorial service for those who died in the bombing.

The only person to have been convicted for the atrocity is former Libyan intelligence officer, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

Libyan Abu Agila Masud is also alleged to have helped make the bomb and goes on trial in the US in May 2025.

A new five-part series entitled Lockerbie, based on a father’s search for justice after his daughter died in the bombing, began production this year. Colin Firth will play the lead role.

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