In the days following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Queen Elizabeth II made a significant departure from royal protocol to offer a powerful message of solidarity to the United States. Just two days after the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, the Queen ordered the Star-Spangled Banner to be played outside Buckingham Palace during the Changing of the Guard ceremony. This act broke a 600-year-old tradition that dictated the British monarch should not play the national anthem of another sovereign nation except during official state visits.
Thousands gathered outside Buckingham Palace on the morning of September 11, 2001, many of them Americans stranded in London due to the grounding of all transatlantic flights. The crowd, initially weeping and holding American flags, fell silent as the Band of the Coldstream Guards performed the US national anthem. The 45-minute ceremony concluded with a two-minute silence to honor the victims, followed by renditions of American music, including 'Amazing Grace' and 'Hymn to the Fallen.'
Three days later, at a memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral, Queen Elizabeth II further demonstrated her support by singing along to the US national anthem, another breach of royal custom. During the service, she read a message to the American people stating, "Grief is the price we pay for love." The Queen also met with the then US Ambassador to Britain, William Farish, after returning to London from Balmoral.
Her son, then Prince Charles, was among the first to sign a book of condolences at the US Embassy. The Queen continued to honor the victims, visiting the World Trade Center site in New York City in 2010. She also ensured the memory of those lost was kept alive, with the tradition of playing the anthem being repeated at Windsor Castle on the 20th anniversary of the attacks in 2021.
More recently, on Friday, marking the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the tradition was continued. King Charles, on behalf of the King, had the Band of the Coldstream Guards play 'The Star-Spangled Banner' once more outside Buckingham Palace. Among those present were the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the US Ambassador Warren Stephens and his wife Harriet, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, and Security Minister Dan Jarvis.
The attacks on September 11, 2001, involved al-Qaeda hijacking four commercial US passenger planes. Two planes struck the World Trade Center in New York City, a third hit the Pentagon near Washington D.C., and the fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania. The events led to the deaths of 2,977 victims, with thousands more succumbing to illnesses related to toxic fumes at Ground Zero in the years that followed.