Google To Broadcast Royal Wedding Live On YouTube

As the royal wedding euphoria continues, Google will be making its own contributions in two little ways. The first is by broadcasting the wedding procession live on YouTube and the second is the provision of the wedding procession route in 3D. According to Googleblog, “it’s clear that people around the world have wedding fever” with Google trends showing countries like the UK, US, Singapore and Philippines ranking in the top ten countries searching for “royal wedding” around the world. Already, the wedding has provoked massive interests, with tourists from all over the world beginning to arrive in London (some) in search of memorabilia such as the royal wedding pictures, royal wedding beer, replica engagement rings, mugs, cups and so on.

The Royal Channel

With the eyes of the world focused on London for the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the Royal Household has announced that footage of the entire royal wedding ceremony will be streamed live on their official royal YouTube channel. The live stream will begin at 10:00a BST (9:00a GMT, 2:00a PT, 5:00a ET) on Friday, April 29, and will follow the wedding procession, marriage ceremony at Westminster Abbey and balcony kiss. In addition to the live stream, The Royal Channel will also feature live blog commentary of the event to give timely updates and insights as the day unfolds. Those in different time zones will be re-shown the entire footage directly following the event and it will remain available in full on the site afterwards.

Furthermore, people are encouraged to upload congratulatory message videos to the royal couple on a video guest book, which has also been opened on the Royal Channel. It is expected that viewers of this year’s event will surpass the 20 million who tuned in over 50 years ago to watch the first royal wedding to be broadcast on TV between The Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, and Antony Armstrong-Jones.

Royals’-eye View In 3D

In addition to the royal channel, Google also announced the expansion of their Google Earth 3D imagery to offer a “Royals’-eye” view of the entire wedding procession, complete with 3D images of iconic landmarks and five species of digital trees that can be seen along the route. The new 3D imagery is not limited to the royal parade route. Apart from Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, the famous ministries on Whitehall and the Prime Minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street, users can also digitally experience the beauty of London with thousands of buildings such as the British Museum, Goodge Street tube station and Shaftesbury avenue, all available to see.

Talking Point

Will you be watching the royal wedding?