One of the less polite topics of conversation in the past two weeks was whether Queen Elizabeth II’s death “outsold” Princess Diana’s death. Diana’s death was sudden and mysterious, and the reaction to Diana’s death was a whole other thing entirely, with people flooding London, the flowers outside of Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, and the Windsors refusing to leave Balmoral. The nation was “prepared” for QEII’s death, the pageantry was expected (and it delivered) and all of it was very beautiful and stoic. It feels wrong to compare the two events, but the thing is, the undercurrent of all of the British media’s coverage was “the death of QEII must be bigger than Diana’s death.” I bring this up because Diana’s funeral outsold.
More people in the UK tuned in to watch the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy than switched on their TVs for the Queen’s funeral on Monday, figures suggest. The official ratings for the historic royal event were released on Tuesday afternoon – revealing that not only was the footballing event a bigger draw in the UK, but Princess Diana’s televised funeral had higher viewing figures back in 1997.
According to the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (Barb) – which is responsible for recording TV audiences – around 28.5m people tuned in to view the Queen’s funeral across the main channels of BBC One, BBC Two, ITV (or STV), Sky News and BBC News.
This compares to the 29.85m who watched Italy beat England on penalties last summer, and the 31m who watched as Princess Diana was laid to rest 25 years ago. The numbers for the Queen’s state funeral may not be conclusive, given that the event was broadcast across so many different television channels.
It had been predicted by industry experts that a global viewing figures record would be set by the Queen’s passing, with some expecting the number of people watching to exceed four billion.
Historian Dr Andrew Keil commented on the figures being lower than anticipated.
“Interesting comparison to audiences for the EURO2020 final,” he noted. “Also means that only about less than half of the UK population tuned in [when there was hardly any alternative thing to do than watch the state funeral].”
SNP strategist Ross Colquhoun suggested that figures were a result of changes in media consumption.
“I guess it shows how people have changed how they consume news, Diana’s funeral was viewed by around 32.1 million,” he pointed out.
Well, well. I mean, it’s still a huge audience and we have to take into account that many people probably watched the funeral in pubs or what have you. But yeah, it was definitely the end of a 70-year reign and most people were like “okay, I watched for an hour, I’m good.” Besides, I bet several million of those viewers were just watching to see the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. I mean, there’s a reason why all of the broadcasters chose lingering shots of Prince Harry – to drive up ratings.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- HRH PRINCESS OF WALES (Visiting the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London) COMPULSORY CREDIT: UPPA/Photoshot Photo UKWT 011125/26 06.03.1996,Image: 502658732, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: World Rights – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries call Photoshot Global HQ – London + 44 (0)20 7421 6000 , also New York Office Tel : + 1 646-429-8731 and Hamburg Office Tel +49 (0)40 530 240 5959, Model Release: no, Credit line: Photoshot / Avalon
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- Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, visit Australia Princess Diana in Tasmania The princess is wearing the Spencer family tiara and a dress by Bruce Oldfield. State Reception in Hobart,Image: 549283325, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: John Shelley Collection / Avalon
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- Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, visit Beach Head Cemetery in Anzio, Italy, to honour those killed in the Allied landings of January 1944. Diana is wearing a dress by Catherine Walker,Image: 549498963, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: John Shelley Collection / Avalon
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- Britain’s William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince George and Princess Charlotte attend, on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, September 19, 2022.,Image: 724112712, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: PHIL NOBLE / Avalon
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- A message from Britain’s King Charles is seen on Britain’s Queen Elizabeth’s coffin, on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, September 19, 2022.,Image: 724138010, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: PHIL NOBLE / Avalon
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- King Charles III and the Queen Consort in front of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II during her State Funeral at the Abbey in London.,Image: 724154241, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Dominic Lipinski / Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 19: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex follows behind The Queen’s funeral cortege borne on the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy as it leaves Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022 in London, England. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born in Bruton Street, Mayfair, London on 21 April 1926. She married Prince Philip in 1947 and ascended the throne of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth on 6 February 1952 after the death of her Father, King George VI. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III.,Image: 724154654, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jeff Spicer / Avalon
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- State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II held at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: Coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II held at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: Prince William, Prince of Wales, Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince Andrew Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II held at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: Prince William, Prince of Wales, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Peter Phillips, King Charles III, Princess Anne, Princess Royal Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, held at Westminster Abbey, London. Featuring: King Charles III, Camila the Queen Consort and Princess Anne Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II held at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: Coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
Sorry, Liz. Outshone in death as in life. Yes, I’m aware this is an unkind statement. I’m strictly on Diana’s side, now and forever.
How is it unkind? It’s just stating facts. The thing is, there was no way this funeral was gonna be anything else or get any ratings after the BRF, BM and RR chose to make everything about the Sussexes. They all got overshadowed by the Sussexes because their sycophants couldn’t help themselves. Oh well, overshadowed in life and in death,🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♀️ c’est la vie. 🤷🏾♀️
The funniest part of all this is that royalists had been saying the funeral would be watched by 4 or 5 billion people and therefore it was proof that the BRF was universally loved. Now look lol.
I think it’s ridiculous of them to say that the queen’s funeral may have been watched by less people than Princess Diana’s but the numbers for the queen’s event didn’t take into account the various media devices. While that may be true, Diana’s numbers didn’t either. I imagine that Diana’s numbers would have been higher still if social media and alternative devices had been available in 1997. I think these people should just resign themselves to the fact that they are not as irresistible as they think they are and be grateful for what they can get. Either that or compare apples to apples and oranges to etc.
I also wonder which of the queen’s events viewership they measured. I wouldn’t put it past them to add the numbers for separate events together and add that the final funeral numbers just to bolster the queen’s numbers.
Diana wins again. In life or in death, she’s still number one.
Why apologize for the truth? Diana’s memory overshadows everything the S̶a̶x̶e̶-̶C̶o̶b̶u̶r̶g̶-̶G̶o̶t̶h̶a̶ Windsor family does. Just as Harry and Meghan overshadow them. It is what it is.
Canadian here who was a teen when Diana died. I got up in the middle of the night with my family to watch her funeral, everyone did!
For the Queen’s funeral, most people here seemed sick of the +1 week ceremonies/vigils and just caught funeral highlights instead, while federal employees were just happy with a day off.
I heard all about that day off. My child just started at UToronto and had an appointment to get a SIN number. They had no idea that federal offices would be closed on Monday – they had classes that morning. They went to their appointment and were greeted with a sign saying “closed for Queen’s funeral.” They know, in theory, the connection between Canada and the UK, but didn’t think of the practical applications. (They are taking an intro Canadian History class next semester – it wasn’t offered this term.)
Ah yeah, that’s rough for sure. They announced the federal holiday on the Tuesday prior I believe? Not a ton of notice, and if you weren’t following it, it was easy enough to miss it. I was personally refreshing a lot to find out if I would need to work on the Monday. Ended up being business as usual for my company.
That’s what I was kind of thinking – the nearly two week lead up was more than enough coverage. It was just everywhere. Yes, she was a monarch and on the throne for 70 years but sheesh.
I laughed, maybe inappropriately, when Mic Wright referred to the endless days of coverage as ‘coffin tv’ in a tweet. Mic has a few articles on his Conquest of the Useless site that are pretty good. I love how he skewers the British Media and throws in some history. (Operation Legacy and the BRF wanting to raid the welfare fund to pay for BP heating bills are two items)
https://brokenbottleboy.substack.com/
I tend to turn the tv on a little before 6am CST for my local news. Was a bit peeved when I realized all the stations were funeral coverage. The bright spot was seeing the Sussexes-clearly and the cameras were on them a lot during the 15 mins I watched. Contrary to Eden’s claims-there was no obstruction in the camera angle. He must have had a special angle?
Watched Diana’s funeral.
Saw little of the Wails. Guess US broadcast just isn’t quite into them yet in direct opposition to the BM’s “US popularity polls”. snort
Fellow Canadian, most people I know didn’t even watch the highlights.
I didn’t watch Diana’s funeral but I was only 9 when she died. I’m sure I can find archival footage if I really wanted to. I didn’t watch the Queen’s funeral either, I wasn’t getting up at 6 am EST when I knew I could see recaps on the news. She’s not that important to me lol. I did watch the procession to Windsor/St. George service, I had it on in the background while I worked from home.
The funeral was at 3:00am where I live, and I wasn’t getting up for it either. I trusted CB to have the important coverage for me.
I was born the same year as Diana. Everyone got up early for both her wedding and her funeral. She was so unique in the RF, the rest were dull, stodgy and not really followed in the US. Once she burst on the scene we were hooked until the final horrible end.
Somewhere in Heaven, Diana is putting her feet up, drinking a cup of tea and throwing her head back laughing, great big deep belly laughs 🙂
Old woman dies of old age after months of frailty and they expected that to outsell beautiful, globally famous, young princess being tragically killed at 36 in a car crash with her lover and leaving behind two young sons, rumours and theories about murder and an institution teetering precariously due to their treatment of her?
Just….really?
Sigh.
+1
Ditto
I third.
Exactly. Guess BRF PR prognosticators grossly overestimated views for “the shocking death of a 96-year-old woman from natural causes.” I wouldn’t have any problem accepting explanations for differing counts between 2022 and 1997 (diff devices, Youtube count methodology, etc.) EXCEPT there’s a a clearly relevant timely comparison with updated count methodology used for EURO2020.
Diana was the people’s Princess, as Harry is the people’s Prince. It really is that simple. No one actually GAS about the “others”, they are charisma vacuums of the worst order. This is why Prince Harry is so much more popular in the USA than any of the others: we love him because we loved Diana, and he is the one that most embodies her. Nobody in the USA really cared about the BRF until Diana came along.
It just occurred to me that much like Diana, Meghan photographs so beautifully. It’s the bane of my existence that I photograph horribly
( kindly friends agree) so I’m so envious!
Anyhoo the RF has always disdained star quality ( cause none of them have it )
Ha! I will spend hours on my hair and makeup and think I look cute, but it’s a different story all together in a photo.
Back on topic, I am not surprised that Diana’s funeral had higher viewership. I am sure there are people who just saw the highlights on YouTube or whatever for the queens funeral. The BBC had an excellent montage that I thought did a nice job of capturing the big moments. And as mentioned above, the queen had a long and wonderful life. Diana’s life was too short and had a tragic end. Those funerals have completely different atmospheres.
I so feel your pain regarding how you photograph 😭 I am SO unphotogenic, I literally look like a different person in pics. My nose isnt huge in person, but something about the way it catches the light makes it look ginormous in pics. That and my eyes look smaller and my jaw looks TOO square…..I dunno….what I like to tell myself is that at least when people meet me in person they’re pleasantly surprised!!
@AnnieFannie- I so feel your pain regarding how you photograph 😭 I am SO unphotogenic, I literally look like a different person in pics. My nose isnt huge in person, but something about the way it catches the light makes it look ginormous in pics. That and my eyes look smaller and my jaw looks TOO square…..I dunno….what I like to tell myself is that at least when people meet me in person they’re pleasantly surprised!!
I believe this easily. I was 12 when Princess Diana died and I remember we all woke up basically in the middle of the night to watch her funeral live (I lived in Missouri at the time) . Harry and I are the same age and I remember being so so sad for him. I am still so sad for him given all that has happened.
I was 8, and I remember my mother taping it so she could watch it later.
And is that phrase a blast from the past
Elizabeth lived a very long, pampered life. I just wish Diana was still here with us. She was taken too soon.
I miss Diana. I’ve stated many times how much I loathe the Royal Family, but she was just so special. I miss JFK Jr. for similar reasons. So sad.
I miss them too, Driver. ❤️
I know there was a plan in place for decades, but it all went on FAR too long. And a lot of it could have been cut or done at a later date. For example, Charles traveling across the UK to greet his new subjects. And all of it didn’t need to be televised either. We all know Charles is automatically King. The world didn’t need to see the formalities of it. As it stands, it was just a lot of Charles losing his temper over small things. Maybe if he was able to properly mourn for those 10 days before the funeral, he would have handled things better.
I would have kept it focused on the Queen and only cut into the news occasionally when an event was happening, like the vigils. The 24/7 covers was completely unnecessary.
Yeah, I think the 10 days of coverage sort of killed interest in the actual funeral. I mean I watched it, lol, but I know a lot of people who turned it on maybe for the procession of the casket into the Abbey and then turned it off, or people who were like “well I already watched this procession and that procession and that procession, so why am I watching this?”
I mean, it was a lot.
Wall-to-wall coverage, with processions and rituals that have lost import and meaning over time. I watched a little bit, but honestly, it was a little like waiting in line at the DMV.
I absolutely woke up in the middle of the night for Diana’s funeral. I absolutely watched TQ’s services solely to see the Sussexes and to stare lasers of frustration through anyone looking at them with any disrespect. I also, admittedly, like men in uniform and there was plenty to admire (respectfully)….(My husband is former Army).
I can’t get the song we heard thirty-billionty-million times during those marches out of my head. What a bizarre ear worm to have. I half expect a bell to chime and a cannon to immediately fire every ten feet when I walk the neighborhood.
Knew it! GD it I KNEW it! It’s been diminishing returns for quite awhile now for these dopes.
I sincerely doubt Charles will get anywhere near the numbers his mother did, at his funeral. Not televised or in person. I wonder would anywhere near as many world leaders and royalty show for KCIII? I’m sure they look forward to being stuck on a bus again. OT: Has anyone seen footage of the other royals and world leaders disembarking from these busses?
Eh, I just liked Diana a whole lot better and felt the loss deeper.
I suspect I’m not alone.
well to be honest there many ways to watch news since Diana died even on twitter, those are not taken into account.
And there are a ton more options if you don’t want to watch the funeral. I’m sure Netflix, Hulu, Prime, Apple+, etc. got a lot of viewers who weren’t particularly interested.
You just can’t compare TV numbers from then and now. It’s apples and oranges.
I’m not surprised by this. The British media were on a mission to inflate the numbers. Only 250, 000 people queued to file pass the Queen’s coffin as well. And the 4 billion global viewers were just unrealistic as by the time the funeral started half the world was either asleep or getting up to go to work.
You could see which way the wind was blowing by the massive difference in the flower situation. I sincerely wondered if there was a flower left anywhere in the U.K. after Diana died. People are just more prepared for an old person to die, Diana was tragic.
I mean…Elton John performed at Diana’s funeral and his Diana funeral version of Candle in the Wind was like, the number 1 best selling single ever. Diana’s funeral was an event. England’s rose…gone too soon.
QEII’s funeral was… expected because she was nearly 100. They’re just not comparable.
The Royals will never admit it, but they DO want to be popular.
Hence why they ostracize and alienate anyone that outshines them and have commissioned various pieces over the last few days about projected ratings.
Yet another reason they are so jealous of Meghan.
Yes, they want to be popular because they NEED to be popular or it’s bye, bye royals. There are no compelling, charismatic figures in the current “slimmed down” crop so there’s palpable anxiety in the air since the Queen died.
It was an F ing bore. I watched House of the Dragon and Top Gun Maverick instead.
10 days of news blackouts for this nonsense, I tell you.
Also those figures were only that high bc people wanted to see Harry and Meghan.
Like I said before still convinced they offed Liz whilst they were in Europe to trap them here and force Meghan to attend the funeral.
I don’t think we’ll see Meghan at the Coronation.
As fun fodder as this may be, it’s apples to oranges. In 1997, there was no internet. Everyone tuned into broadcast TV to watch. The Euros, too, are controlled by the broadcaster – you couldn’t pick from myriad platforms to stream live. So in both cases a captive controlled audience. The QE funeral was streaming everywhere well beyond the 4 UK TV channels – no one needed to watch those platforms. So there’s really no way to estimate it.
There’s no real way to estimate it and compare and its apples to oranges like you said for a couple reasons.
STILL, the “fun fodder” is what makes this so great. The headline alone – “diana’s funeral had higher TV ratings than the Queen’s” – is the fun part. There’s some basis for saying that (even if you break it down and point out the differences), so its just funny bc you know its making the Firm gnash their teeth.
I kept thinking about Diana’s funeral on Monday. I remember the hearse having to stop more than once to clean the roses that were thrown on the hood/ bonnet because the chauffeur couldn’t see out the window. Roses were thrown at QEII hearse, but not nearly as many.
@RoRo – that’s what I was about to post. The thing I remember most about Diana’s funeral was the hearse and the flowers. Even now I tear up thinking about it.
Although I watched TQs funeral I had no inclination to go up to London to see the flowers. Yet, for Di’s I made a special journey to visit KP and signed the book of condolences at the cathedral in my home city.
It just goes to show the wall to wall media enforced 24/7 mourning went against them in the end. Like many others I watched but, in all honesty I paid more attention to H&M than I did any other family members and that includes the two children.
I think a bit of fatigue set in the 10 days between her death and the funeral. There was so much media coverage of every day.
So less than the number that watched the Oprah interview as well. Oh well 🤷🏽♀️
I didn’t watch it at all as I would have needed to be up @ 4AM CST, in America. Though, you can bet your ass I was up for Dianas, her wedding as well. The only other wedding I watched was Harry and Meghans too. I am one year younger than Diana and I can still remember what I was doing, wearing and my initial response was, devastated.
I guess that Charles and Bullyiam had better get used to trying to be the most popular kids in school because they aren’t.
I also watched both Diana’s wedding and funeral. Diana Stan for life.
Now THAT’S karma.
Did you miss the people screaming at news organizations “enough with the queen!”
I remember the outpouring of shock and grief and anger that Diana’s death created. Elizabeth’s funeral, while emotional for some, was not nearly as huge for the people.
The ratings have to be disturbing to BP and BP because the new king and PoW will now to prove themselves worthy of the job promotions they earned from the queen’s death.
Good luck chuck, you will definitely get even less
Yeah, I was thinking that watching it all. Charles is 73 and not looking as spry as he might. It is not outside the bounds of possibility that we could be back here doing the whole thing again in ten years or less. Obviously I’m not wishing a short reign on him but he is the longest waiting heir to the throne in our history and that doesn’t make for Kingly longevity.
The shorter the time he is on the throne the less people will care, I suspect. Much of the outpouring for the queen was predicated on her just having been THERE for all of most people’s lives.
Nostradamus predicted he would abdicate after two years.
I didn’t even think about that, but it’s so true!
250,000 lined up for QEII; the prior week, 400,000 went to a series of Garth Brooks concerts in Ireland.
This whole pissing match about audience size and whether people/how people choose to grieve about a public figure is just gross.
Agreed. They should have just kept this bit of info to themselves.
Yes, it’s really gross and unnecessary.
But number 45 sure had something to say.
Does it have something to do with the fact that it was on a Monday? I watched Prince Phillip’s entire funeral and Meg and Harry’s wedding because it was on a weekend morning that worked with my USA time zone. I definitely streamed Will and Kate’s wedding while at work, haha. I don’t know if there’s any royal family member I’m so passionate about that I’ll get up in the middle of the night to watch live. I am Harry’s age – I remember watching some of the Diana coverage. My mom may have watched her funeral in the early hours of the morning.
Globally the Monday may have made a difference. However, here in the UK we were given the day off to watch the funeral so, it was surprising it didn’t get higher figures. Don’t get me wrong 28.5 million is a lot of viewers but, as others have said people were predicting viewing figures of over 30 million and it’s fallen well short of that.
It might not be fair to compare the television habits of 1997 with today, where so many people don’t bother with tv anymore.
I’m a Canadian who listens to a fair amount of British-based news, and I found it interesting how even the global news programs seemed to overestimate the impact the Queen’s death would have on the rest of the world. One of them was interviewing a correspondent from Ukraine and kept coming back to “What role will the Queen’s funeral have in all this? Could it be an opportunity for Ukraine to talk with the leaders of Europe?” It was bizarre, to say the least.
I agree. A lot has changed in 25 years as far as media consumption and I imagine that viewing Diana’s funeral on TV was the only option people really had then since internet access was not as ubiquitous, nor super equipped for streaming. But for the Queen’s funeral, I was getting updates from here, from other blogs, from IG influencers I follow, plus there were so many clips on YouTube and BBC app notifications alerting me to everything that I didn’t need to watch to know how things were proceeding.
Plus, there’s the part raised by other commenters about the coverage fatigue. While the seven or so days between Diana’s death and the Queen’s statement/the funeral was marked by a lot of retrospective coverage of Diana and a lot of commentary around her legacy, the royals, etc., it wasn’t this 10 day mourning period marked by several events. This also means folks had multiple outlets to address their grief or curiosity about what was going on, and that might have also led to less engagement.
Diana’s funeral was also on a Saturday versus the Queen’s being on a Monday – it would have been easier for more folks (especially from a global audience) to watch.
Exactly. Back in 1997, it was dial-up and that took forever to even load a single picture, never mind streaming an hours-long funeral. The only way to watch Diana’s funeral was to get up early in the morning and turn on your TV. As you say, with TQ’s funeral, you could catch up with archived content.
I was glued to the TV for Diana’s funeral, I was so sad and shocked. But I think the fact that a lot of people stream these days has something to do with the numbers. I watched portions of the Queen’s funeral on YouTube, but fast forwarded through a lot of it…
I’m surprise it was only 250,000 people who visited the empty casket. They talked about the queue being visible from space and the 10-14 hour long wait. The expectation was too high, prior to her death they talked about London being fill to over capacity, that didn’t happen. The overflow area set up with cameras was pretty much half empty.
This transition is not going to be easy for KCIII. I came across an article yesterday that say Charles and Camilla were having marital problems. Adding to whatever is going on at home, you add his age and peoples preconceptions of him. It going to an uphill battle for him.
Wait…what? The casket was “empty” and Charles and Camilla are having marital problems? Details, please!
This funeral and mourning period was so drawn out that it seemed like there were 3 official funerals and a lot of people were probably just tired of it all. I tuned in to see Meghan and Harry, as did a lot of people, but tuned out a lot of the coverage because it was either overly fawning, nasty towards Meghan, and took up our domestic and local news coverage which had more pressing matters.
I think that the state funeral will in retrospect be the biggest event for the British monarchy of the 21st century. without the Queen, and without Harry and Meghan, their appeal to ordinary Brits is quickly going to diminish.
I mean, if you have to choose between food and heat for your house this winter, and you see dowdy old Charles droning on about something or another, Kate and William off to Mustique, or Klosters, or showing up to an opening larded with £100K worth of jewels, the net effect is resentment, not respect or even envy.
There’s a reason the monarchy in France got overthrown.
It doesn’t make any sense to compare 1997 and 2022 numbers of people who watched on TV. Younger generation just doesn’t consume news through the old fashioned channels anymore. I watched a stream online on youtube while working on my notebook.
I doubt a lot of young people were tuning in to watch the funeral of an old queen. I doubt they care or it affects their life.
This is funny (#TeamDianaForLife) but I wonder how accurate it is. How many of those missing viewers were on the streets watching the pagentry in person?
Obviously, there were tons of people on the streets for Diana’s funeral but were there more for the queen’s funeral.
I’m going to be controversial and say not that many more. It was the flowers on the hearse which makes me say this. I don’t remember the press/media at the time encouraging people to do it, and yet people seemed to have the same idea and threw flower after flower onto Diana’s hearse. Forward 25 years later and knowing a precedence had been set I was surprised that visually a beloved monarch didn’t appear to receive anywhere near the same number.
People were told not to throw flowers on the Queen’s hearse. Some did anyway, but for whatever reason, there was a specific injunction.
Thanks TeamMeg I didn’t know that. It now makes sense as I really expected the car to be overloaded.
ETA: I just checked and people were asked to only throw single flowers and to ensure all plastic was removed. Which may be why so many didn’t actually land.
Though it kills me to admit – people were specifically asked not to throw flowers, creates a mess and hazard for driver.
Oh just read other comments regarding this! I suppose better late than never!
I didn’t watch the funeral but I was on Twitter whole day to see the pictures of Meghan and Harry. And got the glimpse of the pageantry. You have to give it to the Brits, nobody does pomp and grandeur of the pageantry better than them, for all their saltiness in general.
I can still predict that Chuck the Turd’s coronation will also be all about whether the Sussexes are coming or not.
I hope The Sussexes don’t go, and instead, they send Chuck an inkwell as a gift. He loves those I hear.
Lmao! Ditto..
TV as a communication medium held a lot more power 25 years ago than it does now. That’s likely not the popular opinion around here but it should be considered as a factor. I don’t even have network TV or any network apps, and neither does anyone I know under the age 30-40. What I saw of the queens funeral I saw online
Yup. We’re in our 50s, and we cut cords about a year after Netflix began scaling back on DVDs. 2008 or 9ish?
I thought the official numbers had more basis in fact. More fool me. It still stands that the Sussexes featured prominently in an event with massive viewership and global reach. They’re not going anyplace, no matter how often their “slide into irrelevance” is proclaimed.
I don’t get why the funeral is being compared to the England vs Italy game. One is entertainment and the other is a funeral.
I’m not sure this is correct It doesn’t take into account people watching on their devices, screens erected in public, group viewings in pubs/peoples houses, etc. Diana’s funeral was a tragic event that people watched with immediate family. The queens death was expected really and people watched in groups.
The streets were empty during both though. Super eerie.
There’s an awful lot of excuses for the lackluster ratings this funeral got after being told by British news that there would be 4 billion viewers. Streaming Shmeaming! There were only 250,000who came to see her lying in state after we were told the line to see her was 14+ hours. The press, stuck in their bubble of fake polls and lying about world adoration set expectations way too high. Royalist don’t like getting a dose of ugly reality.
not sure about you but I did watch a bit just to see the fuckery they pull on The Sussex
I find the conversation very distasteful, I read that the media owners were complaining how much they lost in ad revenue.
But happy that their so called grievances were exposed. Who expects to make money from a funeral?
Nothing is sacred anymore.
In all fairness, it’s a spurious comparison. While I don’t disagree that Diana was more loved than the Queen the world over, the two situations don’t stand up to comparison: Diana died suddenly, tragically and very young. The shock of that alone would have meant more eyeballs and interest. The Queen was 96 and known to be in ill health. The BM was incredibly dumb to try and inflate the numbers before it happened but it’s apples and squirrels; they’re not even in the same family.
There is something very wrong about competitively comparing the deaths of two people by viewing figures and using words like “outsell” as if it’s a sporting event.
Aw man, it just says something (none of it good) that more people tuned in to watch Britain lose at football, than they did to watch the Queen’s funeral. Just wow, lmao.
As for the pomp and the pageantry and whatnot–I was actually kind of underwhelmed by it all. It wasn’t very good. The parts I liked were the bits with the pallbearers getting instructions yelled to them (I’m going to start doing the same whenever I have people helping me move furniture from now on). I loved the massed pipes and drums, and the one part of the whole funeral that got me in the gut was when they started the procession from Westminster Hall, and the pipes started playing My Home/Mist Over The Mountains, which they also played for the Queen Mother’s funeral procession.
I liked the readings at the funeral, particularly the one given by Baroness Scotland, the close up shots of the statues of the Queen’s parents during the procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington arch, Charles’ hangdog face when they sang God Save The King, the funeral processing going up the road into Windsor, with the surrounding British countryside, and finally, the removal of the Imperial State Crown, the Sovereign’s Sceptre, and the orb, at which point Elizabeth, at long last, was finished with her job and officially going into retirement.
But outside of all of that, I wasn’t really taken by much of the rest of it. The traditions on display at the funeral weren’t exactly stretching back a thousand years, they were very recent developments that were made around the time of Queen Victoria’s funeral, which happened in 1901. And…I dunno. I was expecting more. I was expecting the sort of British spectacle you read about in books. And it didn’t happen. There were way too many people in the crowd weeping and cheering, which I thought was way too much emotion for a country that still prizes stoicism as its highest value.
So, I dunno. It felt lacking, in a way, that’s all.
The only people I know who watch tv are my 80 yr old mother and 89 yr old aunt.
Thank heavens I’m not alone. I thought it was underwhelming. It was too perfect, if that makes sense. People said their bit, you could see they were relieved they hadn’t slipped up, and then it was over. I suspect the blanket coverage and relentless build up, what with the queue, just made it anti climatic. That sounds awful. My partner and I watched it. The kids weren’t interested.
It’s quite simple: Dianna was the Peoples Princess, just as Harry is the people’s Prince. Nobody in the USA cared about the BRF until Diana captured our hearts. They drove away the 2 people that renewed our interest in this decade, and I for one am glad that we got “custody” of #GoodKingHarry and #DuchessMeghan in the “divorce”. They will never understand why we have effectively turned our back on the rest.