April 29, 2011 is the D-Day, when Prince William will take his newly minted princess in a horse-drawn carriage back to Buckingham Palace. Google search trends are proof of the gigantic global audience that awaits this wedding of the century.
Kate and William Engagement
As the wedding date gets closer, the excitement has reached a crescendo; almost like how it was back when William’s father Prince Charles married the lovely Lady Diana Spencer.
Google is doing all it can to make sure everyone has access to this big day. Recently, Google made an announcement that it will expand Google Earth 3D imagery to offer its users a “Royal-eye view” of the wedding procession in London, including 3D images of landmarks and digital trees along the route. With the wedding fever as high as it is now, users would have lapped it all up excitingly.
But fortunately, you no longer have to be satisfied with 3D images, as Google made a fresh announcement that said, “Today, we’re thrilled that the Royal Household has just announced that footage of the entire ceremony will be live-streamed on their official YouTube channel: youtube.com/theroyalchannel.”
According to The Telegraph, “The couple insisted that they wanted their marriage to be the world’s most interactive public event.”
The wedding service of Prince William, a Navy helicopter rescue pilot and Catherine Middleton, his girlfriend of almost eight years, will begin at 11.00 am, at Westminster Abbey on Friday, 29th April. The YouTube live stream will begin at 10.00 am (9:00a GMT, 2:00a PT, 5:00a ET).
Everything about the Royal Wedding, right from the wedding procession, to the entire marriage ceremony, complete with the balcony kiss will be streamed live.
Google also announced that it will produce a “live blog commentary” that includes all events and insights as the big day unfolds. The live blog will be synchronised with live footage of the royal wedding. This is the first time Google has run a live blog alongside a live stream. Viewers will be able to click on various links for extra information on all the special moments of the wedding service.
A St. James Palace spokesman said, “We wanted people to be able to interact with the royal wedding as they watch it.” He said, “Prince William and Catherine Middleton are like any other people their age in respect of social media. They are Facebook users and YouTube users…and their intention has always been that their wedding should be accessible to everyone.”
If due to living in a different time zone or for some other reason, you are unable to view the live footage, the entire footage will be shown again after the event and will also be made available on the site to view at your convenience.
A video guest book has also been opened on The Royal Channel for YouTube users to upload anything from congratulatory messages to well wishes to the beautiful couple.
The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer attracted an estimated worldwide television audience of 750 million. Now, Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding is expected to draw record breaking TV audiences.
Tags: British royal wedding live, Kate and William engagement, royal wedding live, the royal channel, the royal wedding live on YouTube
