Queen's funeral drew peak British audience of 28 million, says BBC

A peak of 28 million Britons watched Queen Elizabeth's funeral on their screens at home, the BBC reported on Tuesday, making it one of the most-watched events in years.

The service for the monarch, who died Sept 8 after 70 years on the throne, was held on Monday in Westminster Abbey and broadcast around the world.

The BBC said the majority of viewers in Britain watched on the state-funded broadcaster. It said 32.5 million watched its coverage at some point, with its overall audience peaking at 22.4 million at the time when the queen's coffin was taken in a procession from Westminster Abbey through central London.

The BBC audience was its biggest since the closing ceremonies of the London Olympics in 2012, the BBC said, and was similar in size to that of Princess Diana's funeral in 1997. It includes people watching on channels such as BBC One and Two, as well as the iPlayer streaming service.

The viewership figure represents people who watched for at least three consecutive minutes, a standard viewership metric. It does not include people in Britain who watched live on mobile devices.