20 million viewers watched the Queen's state funeral on BBC
The funeral took place on Monday 19th September.
It has been revealed that Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral, which took place on Monday 19th September, was viewed by more than 20 million people across BBC One and BBC Two.
The broadcast received a peak audience of 19.5 million on BBC One and an average of 12.9 million on the channel, with 1.22 million watching on BBC Two.
1.75 million also watched the funeral on ITV, while it was additionally broadcast on a wide number of other channels including BBC News and Sky News.
The day of the funeral was marked with an official bank holiday, and was the last day of the state-wide period of mourning which took place following Her Majesty's death on Thursday 8th September 2022.
From 10:44am, the Queen's coffin was taken in a procession from Westminster Hall where she had been lying in state to Westminster Abbey, with the funeral service then taking place from 11am.
Following the service, the coffin was drawn in a walking procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch, before being transferred to the State Hearse for its final journey to Windsor Castle. The Queen was then buried in a private family service at 7:30pm.
Around 2,000 guests attended the funeral, including members of the British royal family, other royal families from around the globe and around 100 presidents and heads of government.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people also lined the streets in London to pay their respects to Her Majesty, who was the UK's longest reigning monarch having been on the throne for over 70 years.
The Queen's funeral followed a period in which she was lying in state in Westminster Hall, with people queuing for miles and for many hours in order to file past her coffin.
Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan told Sky News that more than 250,000 people "went through parliament" over the period, but admitted that this was an approximate figure with the final number yet to be determined.
Although the national period of mourning has come to an end and flags have been returned to full mast, the royal family will observe another week of mourning and are not expected to carry out public duties during this time.
Read more:
- Queen Elizabeth II, 1926-2022: How her screen appearances guided a nation
- Queen Elizabeth II, 1926-2022 – her Radio Times covers across the decades
- The world of entertainment pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II
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Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
