The Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton drew in almost 23 million American viewers between 6 and 7:15 am on April 29, Deadline is reporting. Tuning in on 11 networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC America and E!, the estimate beats the number of people who watched the wedding of William’s parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana. When Charlies and Diana married in 1981, an estimated 17 million people tuned into the Big 3 broadcast networks, ABC, CBS and NBC.

However, Deadline’s London Editor Tim Adler reported that more Britons watched Charles and Diana’s wedding than William and Kate’s nuptials. Nearly 27 Britons watched William and Kate’s wedding live, while 28.4 million watched Charles and Diana’s ceremony. William and Kate’s wedding was shown on such British channels as BBC, ITV, Sky News, Channel 4 and Five.

British officials estimated that the royal wedding between William and Kate would be seen by 2 billion people worldwide. However, that prediction didn’t come true; the largest single television event is still the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, which boasted an estimated 1 billion viewers.

Written by: Karen Benardello