Now the Coronation headache of whether or not the Sussexes will attend the ceremony and the place they may sit has gone away (Prince Harry going, Meghan Markle staying put in LA), one other one has taken its place.
Buckingham Palace, official house of the brand new king, is at loggerheads with British broadcasters over management of the video of the occasion, which is able to happen on May 6 in London’s Westminster Abbey.
The Times newspaper reviews that information suppliers BBC, ITN and Sky have united to play “hardball” with the Palace, requesting restrictions be faraway from highlights programmes of the occasion.
The tussle comes after solely 60 minutes of permitted materials was allowed for use following the late Queen’s funeral in September final 12 months, with all different footage taken out of circulation.
“The broadcasters are playing harder ball than we did last time,” The Times quotes an insider revealing. “We aren’t taking anything lying down.”
The Times reveals talks are persevering with, with the broadcasters of the agency opinion that, whereas the funeral was a household occasion and might be fairly managed so far as footage went, the coronation of the monarch is a unique matter, a nationwide and historic occasion with a duty to the general public.
And The Times quotes one unnamed broadcaster asking:
“It is a historic, taxpayer-funded event and if [palace concerns] are about maintaining the smoke and mirrors of monarchy then what’s that about?”
The degree of management exerted by the royals over footage of the Queen’s funeral was revealed by veteran British broadcaster David Dimbleby, who commentated on the occasion for the BBC, however who isn’t within the presenters’ lineup for the coronation.
Dimbleby instructed an viewers at Henley Book Festival that at the same time as he spoke to the nation reside from St George’s Chapel in Windsor – the place the Queen was buried within the last ceremony of the day – the BBC was receiving emails “almost simultaneously” from palace officers, dictating which clips of footage couldn’t be proven in any subsequent broadcast.
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