--- title: Royal Wedding Is Already Basically Become a Street Party description: The BBC has decided that the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry is of enough "national importance" to waive public licensing fees. canonical: https://time.com/5259776/royal-wedding-tv-license/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-04-30T15:56:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:52:30.903Z og:title: The Royal Wedding Has Already Basically Become a Street Party og:description: The BBC is letting street parties broadcast the footage for free og:url: https://time.com/5259776/royal-wedding-tv-license/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47eb46d19d85d803/69892f188fd2ee47bb35b78f/meghan-markle-prince-harry-anzac-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: meghan-markle-prince-harry-anzac-day og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Royal Wedding Has Already Basically Become a Street Party twitter:description: The BBC is letting street parties broadcast the footage for free twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47eb46d19d85d803/69892f188fd2ee47bb35b78f/meghan-markle-prince-harry-anzac-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Watch Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Royal Wedding For Free > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Apr 30, 2018 3:56 PM UTC  Samir Hussein—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Apr 30, 2018 3:56 PM UTC Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will be including as many people as possible in their upcoming May 19 [royal wedding](http://time.com/5039393/royal-wedding-2018-details/) at [Windsor Castle](http://time.com/5176654/st-georges-chapel-windsor-castle-venue/). No, the [guest list](http://time.com/5234639/royal-wedding-invite-list/) hasn’t expanded. Instead, the BBC itself is on the side of the couple. The [latest update](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43941624): the broadcaster will be waiving TV licensing fees for public viewing parties of the spring nuptials, making it possible for people to come together to watch the British royal and his American fiancée wed without needing to pay for access to the footage. “In exceptional circumstances, the BBC can grant a dispensation for the temporary viewing of television, so long as the viewing is for the sole purpose of screening an event which is judged by the BBC to be of national importance,” said BBC head of revenue management Pipa Doubtfire. And yes, the BBC considers the royal wedding to be exactly such an event of “national importance.” (It’s even taking precedence over the kind-of-a-big-deal [FA Cup](http://time.com/5066188/royal-wedding-date/), also scheduled to take place May 19\. But sorry, soccer fans: no fees are getting waived for that one.) This is a particularly big deal in the U.K., of course, where already “hundreds” of organizers of street parties have applied to local governments for road closures, pub hour extensions, and the like. While U.S. viewers will have to wake up extra early to watch Markle walk down the aisle, British viewers will be enjoying a lovely midday celebration. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5259776/royal-wedding-tv-license/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5259776/royal-wedding-tv-license/"},"headline":"How to Watch Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Royal Wedding For Free","datePublished":"2018-04-30T15:56:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:52:30.903Z","description":"Thanks, BBC","url":"https://time.com/5259776/royal-wedding-tv-license/","keywords":["Newsfeed","royals","Prince Harry","royal wedding","meghan markle"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47eb46d19d85d803/69892f188fd2ee47bb35b78f/meghan-markle-prince-harry-anzac-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47eb46d19d85d803/69892f188fd2ee47bb35b78f/meghan-markle-prince-harry-anzac-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"meghan-markle-prince-harry-anzac-day","caption":"","creditText":"Samir Hussein—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5259776/royal-wedding-tv-license/","name":"How to Watch Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Royal Wedding For Free"}}]}] ```