Buckingham Palace has found itself embroiled in a furious row with foreign broadcasters over plans to plunge the building into darkness at at time when most of the world will be tuned in for live coverage of the royal wedding.
In Iine with the efforts of the Prince of Wales to tackle climate change, the lights illuminating the Palace are to be turned off at 12.30am on the night of the wedding in order to save energy.
However, this will be 5.30pm in the United States, when millions of people will be sitting down to prime time viewing of the most eagerly anticipated live event of the year. US and Canadian broadcasters have heavily invested in studios and presenters, including Cat Deeley and Piers Morgan, and are said to be in involved in frantic talks with officials.
Australian broadcasters will also be hit by the timing, which will mean that their audience will be unable to see presenters against a lit up Buckingham Palace background.
Nevertheless, it is anticipated that Prince Charles, a seasoned climate campaigner, will be frustrated with this matter. He has previously highlighted the rapid melting of the north polar ice cap as a wake-up call "as we sleepwalk our way towards the edge of catastrophe" and called for a "courageous and revolutionary" approach to tackling global warming.
He has previously warned that if such an approach was not embarked upon, "The result will be catastrophe for all of us, but with the poorest in our world hit hardest of all. In this sense it is surely comparable to war."
