King Charles's Coronation viewing figures eclipsed by Queen's funeral
20 million people tuned in across the UK to watch the historical event – compared to the 29 million who watched the Queen's funeral.
King Charles III's Coronation was viewed by a peak TV audience of 20 million in the UK yesterday – making it the most-watched broadcast of the year so far by some distance.
However, the numbers are significantly lower than those for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral last September, which was watched by a peak viewership of 29 million.
Meanwhile, the BBC comfortably beat ITV with a peak audience of 15.5 million watching the coverage across BBC One, BBC Two and the BBC News Channel. 3.6 million viewers tuned in to ITV1.
A further 800,000 viewers chose to watch the ceremony on Sky News and Sky Showcase, according to the official figures.
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It should also be noted that the total viewership figures do not take into account those who watched the ceremony via live streams and on YouTube.
The Coronation was documented extensively on BBC and ITV – with a number of programmes dropped from the morning schedule to make way for the build-up coverage.
Read more:
- Huw Edwards: 'BBC would be crazy not to cover coronation on social media'
- Saturday Kitchen and more dropped from schedules for coronation
BBC One also continued to focus on the Coronation into the evening, with a 90-minute programme titled The Coronation: A Day to Remember and a documentary called Charles R: The Making of a Monarch both airing on the channel.
Kirsty Young led the coverage on the BBC alongside Sophie Raworth and Huw Edwards, while ITV's lead presenting team consisted of Julie Etchingham and Tom Bradby.
Channel 4 and Channel 5 both opted to show an alternative schedule, with 138,000 people choosing to watch the former's broadcast of Johnny English Strikes Again while the Coronation was taking place.
The celebrations continue for the remainder of the Bank Holiday weekend, with today's Coronation Concert featuring Ncuti Gatwa available to watch live on BBC One and iPlayer.
The King's Coronation Concert airs on Sunday 7th May. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
