Some are gathering with friends to join the predicted TV audience of 20 million, but for others it’s a day off
The Queen’s funeral is predicted to become the most watched broadcast of all time, with many millions of viewers expected to tune in around the world.
Meanwhile in the UK, a TV audience of more than 20 million is forecast for the occasion.
Six Guardian readers share whether they’ll be watching, and if so, how they’ll be doing it, with some hosting events for family and friends while others opt for privacy.
“My partner and I will watch the funeral with our dog at our home. I don’t know what emotions we will feel. We contemplated going to London, but having been in London for the jubilee and struggled to see much at all, we felt lucky to be there but didn’t see anything other than the flypast. We feel we will see more from home than we could if we were there.
“I think Monday will hit everyone quite hard as we will finally be saying goodbye. I think we might all be surprised how we feel on the day and what emotions hit us. I feel as though I’ve lost another grandparent – my last one.”
Stefan Kruczkowski, 45, freelance urban designer, Derbyshire
“I shall be at home with my husband watching on TV via a laptop. The Queen’s passing has affected us and many others far more deeply than I would have imagined possible, so we would prefer to mourn in private. I can’t imagine anything worse than standing around for hours to see very little of the event. There was no way we were going to go to London.
“We prefer to pay our respects quietly at home and share in the entire funeral properly. We shall be attending the one-minute silence in Devizes Market Place on Sunday evening, and as a town councillor I have already attended a service of memoriam in the town church.”
Judy Rose, 74, Wiltshire, retired, town councillor
“I won’t be watching. I have no interest in it all. It feels like it’s becoming obligatory to be a monarchist, rather than letting people make their own choice. I find it really horrible. I’ll just go for a walk with my family and make the most of a day off.
“It’s sad that an old woman died, especially for her family, and there are institutional and constitutional issues that will be of interest, but the obsequious and fawning coverage and all the cancellations and ‘we feel your pain at this sad time’ emails from companies just trying to make you think good of them has been pathetic. Corporations are jumping on the bandwagon. I had my booster jab the other day and many of the people I spoke to there – between 65 and 80 – were cross about it too.” Dinah, 65, researcher, London
“I sent a last-minute invitation to my neighbours yesterday asking if they were free for G&Ts and scones on Monday. The TV might be on for whoever wants to watch the funeral – we’re not royalists, except for my daughter. The rest of us will just have a great gathering – I love organising things, and there’ll be about 14 of us. I will lay a table with scones, a cheese board, cakes, buckets of ice with fizz, gin.”
Angelica Gardner, 59, Birmingham, recently retired
“I watch all royal events, especially weddings on the TV, with my daughter. We both love all the ceremony and following the story of the day as it moves from early preparations to the main event and then the closing. We will be watching the funeral together with her partner, and we have planned a homemade buffet which is always a part of our royal TV days. We have called our event ‘the Queen’s wake’.
“It’ll be a different feeling this time to watching events like the weddings, but it’ll still be good to get together – we’re in it for good and bad times. It’ll be a day where the nation is doing the same thing; we’re hardly ever watching the same thing on TV, that time has passed. We’re not massive royalists, we just love being together and joining in. It’s been quite a strange time but but it’ll be a good way to mark her passing.” Angela Dennis, 47, business manager at a charity, Suffolk
“I really won’t be watching. I’ve got such mixed feelings about the royal family. I might glance into the living room whilst doing the washing-up and tidying the kitchen if my wife is watching on TV. Otherwise I shall be getting on with things that are more important to me at the moment. I’m a musician so I’ll probably be practising. That’s probably a more honest way for me to honour her public service that she conducted with an exemplary degree of integrity and honesty.”
Iain Houston, 74, Dorset, musician and retired computer programmer
