The flight which carried the Queen's coffin from the capital to RAF Northolt in London has been revealed to be the most tracked in history. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 reports more than five million people tuned in to watch her majesty's last journey from Scotland.
According to the website, 4.7 million watched via browser and mobile app, while a further 296,000 watched on a live YouTube stream. Previously the record was held by US politician Nancy Pelosi on her trip to Taiwan which was tracked by approximately 2.2 million people in August.
According to Edinburgh Live, the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II was flown out of Edinburgh Airport on a RAF Globemaster C-17. It was carried by personnel from The Queen’s Colour Squadron, 63 Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment.
Within the first minute of the plane's transponder activating, approximately six million people attempted to track the flight. In a blog post, Flightradar24 stated: "That put unprecedented strain on the Flightradar24 platform, far beyond even what we experienced when the US Speaker of House flew to Taiwan and 2.2 million people followed the flight.
"Even though our platform suffered under such heavy load, Queen Elizabeth II's final flight from Edinburgh to RAF Northolt is by far the all-time most tracked flight on Flightradar24 and will likely remain at the top for a long while."
Before being transported to London, the Queen's coffin was lying in state at St Giles' Cathedral in the Scottish capital on Monday and Tuesday. Tens of thousands of people queued for hours to see the late monarch's coffin and pay their respects.
Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully at Balmoral at the age of 96, after reigning for more than 70 years.
