London (ANTARA News/Reuters Life!) - A British minister said on Wednesday that more than a quarter of the world`s population was expected to watch television broadcasts of this month`s royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Prime Minister David Cameron`s spokesman said a figure of 2 billion people was provided by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt during a briefing at a cabinet meeting where he also said preparations for the April 29th nuptials were going well.

"The Culture Secretary ... said (the wedding) is likely to be a major global event viewed by around 2 billion people around the world," the spokesman said.

Some 750 million people are said to have watched William`s father, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles get married to the late Princess Diana in 1981, while some reports suggested that as many as 2.5 billion watched Diana`s funeral in 1997.

There are some 6.9 billion people in the world, according to figures on the website of the U.S. Census Bureau.
(U.S008/H-AK)

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