Princess Diana’s funeral remains the most-watched live TV event in British history, with 31million viewers, a survey has found.
Over half the population of the UK tuned in to the BBC and ITV to watch the event, which took place exactly 20 years ago today, on 6 September 1997.
And a study of the audience figures for live news and sports events since current records began show that no event has come close to topping it.
Over half the population of the UK tuned in to the BBC and ITV to watch the event, which took place exactly 20 years ago today, on 6 September 1997
The next biggest audience was for the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony, which was watched by 24.6million
The next biggest audience was for the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony, which was watched by 24.6million, followed by the opening ceremony with 24.4million.
And the only other royal event on the list was the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011, which was watched by 18.7million people.
Such is the popularity of mass sporting events that they occupied eight of the top 10 spots, including three England games from the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which all drew more than 19million viewers.
Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997
Joint fifth place with 20.7million viewers were the Portugal v England game at Euro 2004 and ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean’s bronze medal-winning performance in the 1994 Winter Olympics.
The figures have been compiled by the Press Association to mark the 20th anniversary of the funeral of Diana, and do not include pre-recorded programmes made specifically for TV, such as comedy and drama.
The current system of measuring ratings, by the audience research organisation Barb, began on August 1 1981.
This means that no comparable figure is available for the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana, which took place just a few days earlier on July 29 1981.
A previous system of compiling ratings estimated the wedding was watched by a combined audience of just under 22 million people.
Another royal wedding, that of Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex in June 1999, attracted a TV audience of 14.8 million.
The next biggest audience was for the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony, pictured, which was watched by 24.6million
England’s match with Argentina at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, during which David Beckham was infamously sent off, drew 23.8million viewers
More recently, Prince Charles’ marriage to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall in April 2005 had an average audience of 7.4 million.
The funeral of Diana in September 1997 was the largest outside broadcast ever mounted by the BBC.
Some 100 cameras were stationed around London, along with a further 22 units around the UK. The BBC fed its pictures live to 45 countries as well as broadcasting to 142 other nations via the BBC World channel.
The huge ratings in Britain were partly a consequence of the funeral being broadcast live simultaneously on BBC1 and ITV, with BBC2, Channel Five and Sky also showing part of the event.