THIRTY YEARS ago, RTÉ faced the wrath of republicans and the Gaelic League following its decision to screen a royal wedding in the middle of the hunger strikes.
RTÉ justified its decision on the basis that there was huge public interest and most people at that time did not live in multichannel land. Fast forward 30 years and the challenge will be to avoid the royal wedding, such is the ubiquity of the coverage.
Both the BBC, ITV and Sky News will have dawn-to-dusk coverage. Closer to home, TV3 is simulcasting ITV’s coverage from 8.30am to 1.30pm with a follow-up programme afterwards.
The station last night broadcast the biopic of the royal couple's relationship, When William Met Kate. "It is a good news story in the midst of a lot of bad news and a great love story," said TV3 head of programming Ben Frow. "There was great affection in Ireland for Princess Diana and one of the things that the British do very well is pomp and pageantry."
By contrast, RTÉ is confining its coverage, which will begin at 10.30am and continue through to 1.30pm. The event will be presented by Marty Whelan and Mary Kennedy.
The wedding will be shown live in the Milk Market in Limerick on two widescreen televisions as part of the city’s Riverfest celebrations.
Irish guests at the wedding will include actress Amy Huberman, Cardinal Seán Brady, artist Gemma Billington and hat designer Philip Treacy.
Meanwhile in the North, residents from the strongly republican Lenadoon area in west Belfast are due to join their unionist near-neighbours from the Suffolk estate to celebrate the wedding. Community workers at the Suffolk-Lenadoon Interface Group believe it is the only such event in the North with genuine cross-community input. Community worker Joe Hamill said the move, which follows a successful joint celebration of St Patrick’s Day, was part of an ongoing programme to help both communities know and understand each other’s cultures.
The organisers do not expect Lenadoon republicans to arrive bedecked with union flags and bunting, but they do anticipate young and old alike to go to Suffolk “at least to taste the event”.
Other small, informal street celebrations are expected in unionist parts of Belfast. Unlike loyal orders’ parades and demonstrations, no permission is required in advance and no problems are anticipated by the Parades Commission or authorities at City Hall.
Belfast, however, will be the only large city in Northern Ireland or Britain not to have the wedding shown on a giant public TV screen. A 25sq m screen is being erected in the grounds of City Hall to cover events up to the London Olympic Games next summer, but it will not be ready to cover this event. Eighteen other screens, however, will carry the wedding live.