Queen Elizabeth II's funeral to break two TV records currently held by sport

Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, which is set to go ahead later today, is expected to smash the records regarding viewing figures, knocking off two iconic sporting moments from the top spots as the most-viewed TV event of all time.

With most major channels committing resources to mourn The Queen’s death and the creation of a Bank Holiday in the UK for the funeral, global viewing figures are expected to surpass a huge four billion.

That is more than half of the world’s population!

The figure would blow out of the water the two and a half billion globally that watched Princess Diana’s service in 1997, and it would also smash the current records for most-watched TV events which are two historic sporting moments.

The current most-watched TV event globally is a record that has stood for over 25 years, with Atlanta’s 1996 Olympic opening ceremony viewed by 3.6 billion people worldwide, as per the Daily Star.

The ceremony memorably featured Louisiana’s Muhammad Ali light the Olympic torch, and ‘The Greatest’ proclaiming in reference to his Parkinson’s disease that, “God gave me this physical impairment to remind me that I am not the greatest. He is.”

As well as smashing the record for most-watched event globally, The Queen’s funeral is expected to top the standings for most-watched event in the UK, demoting arguably the greatest moment in English sporting history.

England’s World Cup victory on home soil in 1966 was watched by 32.3 million people as it famously carried on into extra-time. And fittingly, it was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II that day who passed the Jules Rimet trophy to England captain Bobby Moore to lift aloft into the Old Wembley sky.

It still to this day remains the only World Cup England have won. Hopefully