Many analysts said the funeral could turn out to be the most watched single TV event in history, with a large portion of the 7.7 billion people around the globe catching at least some of it.
Those who have been planning this for decades clearly had that audience in mind.
An estimated 650 million people watched the first moon landing in 1969, a record at that time. More than 2 billion are believed to have watched Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, but improved cellphones and internet have made it vastly easier to watch a big event today.
Giant screens were set up in outdoor squares in cities across the country. More than 100 movie theaters and churches showed big-screen broadcasts of the BBC’s coverage. The Royal Shakespeare Company screened the funeral at its theater at Stratford-upon-Avon in central England.
Since covid, many churches are set up for Zoom funerals. On Monday, many people sat in pews at Holy Trinity in London’s Sloane Square, watching with the smell of incense filling the morning air.
Pubs and restaurants that ordinarily don’t have a TV got one for the funeral. At Motcombs, a Mediterranean restaurant not far from Buckingham Palace, people drank coffee or champagne as they watched.
“We thought some people might not be able to handle the crowds and need a place to watch, ” said Ken Anderson, who said his son was the owner.
When police no longer allowed any more people into London’s Hyde Park, several thousand just stood in an empty street near Harrods department store listening to hymns blasting over the loudspeaker.
“I will never see the likes of this again,” said Jillian Martin, an educator from Northern Ireland.
British officials are betting that the enormous effort to give the queen a proper send-off, the cost of which is still unknown, will return far more in tourism revenue.
Japanese broadcaster NHK carried the funeral live, with simultaneous interpretation, and the funeral was the third top trending term on Japanese Twitter.
In Hong Kong, hundreds of people watched the funeral on their phones and tablets, laid flowers and waved the Union Jack flag outside the British Consulate. Hong Kong was a British colony for a century and a half until the city returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
In Sydney, Graham Cousens, 56, was out with friends but said he had set his television at home to record the funeral.
“It’s such a momentous moment,” he said. “Not that I personally feel that much, but I can see what it means to the English.”
Even Google turned its logo black in the U.K. on Monday in honor of the queen.
Not everyone in central London was pleased with the massive security presence, the locked-down Tube stations and blocked streets.
“I can think of better things to spend all this money on. Sure, it’s great for tourism and the flower-sellers, but I’m not sure the queen would be into this extravaganza,” said Lily Haverford, 42, a teacher.
“It’s pretty as a picture, but, in the end, what does it really mean?” she said.
Many people interviewed around the world said it was a spectacle worth staging.
To prepare the backdrop, London landmarks were scrubbed. New rolls of sod were laid near Wellington Arch, where the coffin was transferred to a hearse for the 25-mile trip to the queen’s final resting place in Windsor.
Even that hearse was made-for-TV, with huge windows and internal lighting designed to give…
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