Why BBC Received Record 110,000 Complaints About Prince Philip’s Funeral

The funeral service for Prince Philip was a solemn affair to say goodbye to a man who has been the patriarch of the royal family for longer than some people have been alive. The widely televised event, which took place just a few weeks before Prince Philip would have celebrated his 100th birthday, elicited a surprising outpouring of complaints, the BBC reported. Even more surprising was the reason behind the record-breaking number of complaints.

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Record-Breaking Complaints About Prince Philip’s Funeral

Prince Philip’s funeral evoked a shocking number of complaints after the BBC dedicated two days of programming to the service. It was inevitable that the funeral would be a massive draw, especially since eyes from all over the world were glued to Prince William and Prince Harry, whose relationship has been heavily scrutinized over the last few years.

Despite the fact that the funeral was highly anticipated, for both those who wanted to witness any potential royal family drama as well as those who wanted to pay Prince Philip his final respects, many were apparently incensed by the interruption the services made to regular programming.

Regular Programming Interrupted By Funeral Key To Complaints

Fans of the British TV staples EastEnders and Masterchef were not too happy that their shows were scrapped in order to make room for two days of funeral coverage. BBC received over 110,000 complaints, making Prince Philip’s funeral the most complained about TV program in UK history. A spokesperson for BBC responded to the massive amount of complaints, explaining, “We do not make such changes without careful consideration. We are grateful for all feedback, and we always listen to the response from our audiences.”

As a result of the deluge of viewer complaints, the British network has decided not to dedicate any more wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s funeral. Viewers will probably heave a sigh of relief to know that their complaints did not go unnoticed by the broadcasting network and that they’ll get a break from royal family coverage for the time being.