‘I didn’t want to miss it’: Royal funeral on global live TV

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS
Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — In movie theatres and pubs, on giant screens and smartphones, people watched and pundits droned on as Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in London flooded the airwaves live across time zones and continents. On the other side of the English Channel in staunchly republican France, broadcasters scrapped normal programming to carry up to 12 hours of live footage Monday. Sipping her drink in an English pub in Paris, Martine Paranthoen said she had “a little bit of a tight heart … because for me the queen was immortal.” In South Africa, some of the coverage was accompanied by discussions on how — or even whether — the queen’s life should be celebrated in the former British colony.