Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) was already a queen of records during her lifetime. According to experts, the funeral of the late English monarch should now set a new television record for live broadcasts. As “Daily Mail” reports, it is expected that 4.1 billion TV viewers will tune in on September 19th. This would mean that the state funeral in Westminster Abbey would be watched live by more than half of the world’s population.
According to the Daily Mail, the record number of viewers was an estimated 3.5 billion pairs of eyes watching the opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Boxing legend Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) lit the Olympic flame back then. Two to 2.5 billion people watched the funeral service for Lady Di (1961-1997) live a year later, followed by 1.9 billion viewers for the global rock concert Live 8 in the summer of 2005.
German TV viewers can also attend the funeral live on September 19. According to the current status, ZDF will broadcast the program “ZDF spezial: Mourning for Queen Elizabeth II.” from 9:03 a.m. The private broadcaster RTL also broadcasts live. It starts at nine o’clock with “Point 12 Special: Last honor for the Queen – The world says goodbye to Elizabeth II.”, followed by an “Exclusive Special: Goodbye Queen – The world bows” from 3 p.m. Sat.1 accompanies the funeral service from 11:50 a.m. in the program “Goodbye, Queen Elizabeth – The world says goodbye”.
