An average of 11.4 million U.S. viewers watched the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday morning, according to data from Nielsen.
Despite Americans’ fascination with the royal family, that figure doesn’t come close to the 33.2 million people who watched the funeral for Princess Diana in September 1997.
Diana, the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry and glamorous global celebrity, died in a car crash at the age of 36.
Diana’s funeral also occurred in far less fragmented TV environment where streaming video was not a factor.
It’s likely that many people streamed Queen Elizabeth’s funeral from a variety of sources, which are not included in the Nielsen figure.
The four-hour event on Monday aired in the early morning and daytime hours in the U.S., limiting its potential audience.
U.S. viewers may have gotten tired of the story of Queen Elizabeth’s death at age 96, which occurred on Sept. 8–eleven days before the procession and service at Westminster Abbey.
The union of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was watched by 29.2 million U.S. viewers across 15 channels in May 2018.
As expected, interest was much higher in the United Kingdom. An average of 26.2 million viewers watched the Westminster Abbey funeral service between 11 a.m. and noon across all channels, with 18.5 million of those watching on the BBC, according to BARB, an audience research firm.
In comparison, Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997 had more than 32 million U.K. viewers.
