By IBARRA C. MATEO
IN between official functions on Friday, newly appointed Health Assistant Secretary Enrique A. Tayag admits he would be watching on television the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
“I am watching the wedding of the future king and queen of England because of its historical value,” Tayag, who heads the National Epidemiology Center, said in an interview. “Also, I am watching it out of curiosity and because of its entertainment value.”
Tayag and thousands of Filipinos captivated by the William-Kate fairy-tale romance will count among the estimated two billion worldwide television audience of the royal wedding that is taking place at a time of festering global political discontent, unprecedented natural disasters and rising oil prices.
The 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer was watched by 28.4 million viewers globally. The arrival of online media is expected to tremendously boost the numbers of viewers of their son’s wedding to a commoner.
Ratings analysts expect the Asian audience, including in the Philippines, to tune in in “huge numbers” to the live telecast of what has been dubbed as “The Wedding of the Century.” Several international news networks like CNN, BBC, ABC, NBC News, CBS News, Fox News, AP, and E! Entertainment are set to broadcast the event.
Filipinos who will be watching Prince William and Middleton tie the knot are particularly interested in what royal weddings are like.
Lady Marie dela Torre, 37, a government employee, said since her family does not have royal pedigree, “I can only dream of such a wedding. How I wish my child would have such kind of a wedding.”
The wedding, she said, will be different because “Prince William and Miss Middleton belong to a different culture and class.”
Bernardo Mallari, 43, an employee of a media outfit, said he has only been to church and civil weddings in the Philippines and is curious how a member of the British royal family marries.
“I want to witness all the rites, rituals and protocol on the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton,” he said. “Because we do not have royalty in the Philippines, I want to know how royal family members get married.”
Ernesto Belo, 39, also an employee of a media company, said he will “definitely” watch Friday’s event because royal weddings “don’t happen every year.”
He believes that watching a traditional British wedding of a member of the royal family would “improve my understanding of other cultures.”
Also eagerly awaiting the royal nuptial is 14-year-old high school sophomore Eunice Micua. “I only get to read about the British royal family in my world history books,” she said. “Surely, the royal wedding will become a topic of conversation between me and my friends and classmates.”
The Filipinos’ growing interest in the “The Wedding of the Century” is being fueled by the local broadcasting networks that have started devoting prime-time coverage of the lives of the prince and the princess-to-be and how their romance bloomed.
In between the coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s Easter Sunday message, local TV stations aired documentaries produced by the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) on the anticipated royal wedding.
Local television stations have sent reporters to London and Scotland to report on the preparations for the big event. These reporters have filed stories on the reactions and activities of Filipino immigrants and professionals in Britain and Scotland on the royal wedding.
Local dailies have also been featuring front-page articles on the wedding, and Sunday lifestyle magazines have devoted their covers and numerous pages for the stories and photos of Prince William and Middletown.
Among the topics given prominence by Metro Manila-based news organizations are the wedding guest list; London weather on April 29; royal protocol; the more-than-three hours of pealing of the 10 bells at the Westminster Abbey after the wedding; the appeal of the couple not to shower them with gifts but to donate to a fund already established by Prince William and his brother, Prince Harry, that will support 26 charities; the family histories of the couple, and the guessing game on Middleton’s wedding dress.
About 1,900 invited guests are expected to attend the wedding. People around the world, including Filipinos, will be watching it through live telecast.
