The scale of the media operation for coverage of the royal wedding is staggering, writes MARK HENNESSY
MONTHS AGO, television stations scoured central London for high buildings with unimpeded sight of Westminster Abbey, from where to host their minute-by-minute coverage of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Demand has been heavy. Portrayed already by actors in hurriedly-made romances, the couple will be at the centre of the most-watched wedding in history, if television stations determined to make it the TV event of the year have their way.
Some of the owners of properties along Victoria Street are reaping lucrative rewards, as foreign stations are sending thousands of journalists to London – more, even, than many of them sent to cover the recent slew of earthquakes and natural disasters.
Even EastEnders intends to get in on the act, since the BBC soap-opera watched by millions intends to use some actual footage from Westminster Abbey mixed in with scenes showing Albert Square en fete for the nuptials.
Conscious that their coverage of the wedding will be compared to serious news stories, some television stations are reluctant to say how many people they are sending to London to cover the event.
“It’s a major event and that takes resources and people,” says Jeffrey Schneider, senior vice president at the American network ABC News, although he refuses to say how much the company will spend.
Trade rumours, however, say that ABC will send up to 650 staff – more than for the Olympics a year later – while famed broadcaster Barbara Walters, who covered Prince Charles's first wedding in 1981, will host a 20/20 special, William & Catherine: A Modern Fairy Tale.
The demand from the US for coverage of the wedding appears insatiable. News of the couple's engagement stayed high on US TV stations' news lists for days afterwards. Meanwhile, BBC America has garnered extra viewers by putting a distinctly British spin on the story, while a hurriedly-made US movie, William and Kate, will be broadcast in both the UK and the US later this month. Chronicling the couple's nine-year-relationship from when they first met at the University of St Andrews, it features unknown actors Nico Evers-Swindell and Camilla Luddington in the lead roles, with Chariots Of Fireactor Ben Cross starring as the Prince of Wales.
By the wedding day, Americans will have had the chance to overdose on romance, with everything from Disney movies to Wedding Central TV's decision to incorporate the wedding into its How to Be a Princessprogramme. Dubbed a "mix between America's Next Top Modeland The Princess Diaries", the show sends young US women to England for "blue-blood boot camp", where they can win money, a British title, or a dance with a hard-up European prince.
Unlike his father, Prince William is marrying in the age of Twitter and smart-phones, so software writers have been designing apps, led by Hello!magazine's Royal Wedding App, for photographs "that stand out from the rest". And for those who want to test their knowledge of the royals, there is The Weakest Link's Royal Wedding Edition (59p), while the Royal Wedding Essential Guide – same price – offers "a royal personality test for those who secretly want to be in the monarchy".
Stamp collectors might care to look towards the Pacific island of Niue, which has issued a stamp each for the couple, which can be bought together for NZ$5.80, or £2.70. Separately, William’s is worth more at £1.65, while Kate’s can be purchased for £1.16.
The stamps have created a minor kerfuffle, with arch-royalists claiming that Niue has been disrespectful by not putting an image of the couple together on one stamp. Toke Talagi, the Niue prime minister said: “Some say this meant the couple will separate in future. I don’t know why they would interpret it that way. I don’t think it means that. I think it means we’re very happy celebrating the royal marriage.”
