How America is celebrating the Royal wedding - Events and TV coverage details for the US

America was always wild about Harry. The wedding of his brother seven years ago drew almost 23 million viewers in the States; given that the Prince is marrying an American, Meghan Markle, the excitement about his own wedding has only intensified.

And the drama surrounding Ms Markle's family has sparked a certain surge in fascination, as cable news channels devote lengthy segments to her ailing father Thomas's "will he, won't he" attendance, and scrutinise his ill-judged decision to pose for paparazzi pictures near his home in Mexico.

It all means that, come Saturday, the United States will be riding the wave of Royal mania.

Of course, the story in itself is a classic fairy tale straight out of a Disney film – a handsome prince meets a glamorous actress, and whisks her off her feet.

Yet their nuptials will be, in the hearts and minds of many Americans, more akin to something far more readily identifiable.

“It’s the Super Bowl of weddings,” said Anne Chertoff, a wedding magazine and Royal expert, currently running classes on the subject in New York. “America has gone bonkers.”

“It’s definitely captured the imagination here,” said Michael Howells, Britain’s consul-general in Los Angeles, Ms Markle’s hometown. “People are talking about it a lot.”

The Los Angeles Times has run fashion features on British style, highlighting labels chosen by the bride-to-be such as Burberry and Jigsaw, and has already begun a live blog, with rolling coverage of the lead-up as Ms Markle’s mother left LA to travel to London and meet the Queen.

How to watch the royal wedding in America

The Royal wedding will be televised live in the US - 7am ET, 4am PT.

PBS

PBS will also be showing the wedding live. The channel will run a five-part nightly series starting May 14, which will end with a live broadcast of the wedding on May 19.

CBS

CBS will start their coverage three hours before the ceremony, with live broadcasting from  4am ET from Windsor. Tina Brown will join Gayle King and Kevin Frazier live.

CBSN

CBS's live-streaming site will also reportedly be broadcasting coverage starting at 4am ET.

MSNBC

Joy Reid will anchor coverage of the royal wedding on MSNBC from New York starting at 4am ET, while Stephanie Ruhle and Katy Tur will report live from Windsor.

NBC 

Commentary will begin on NBC at 4:30am ET with Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb reporting live from "an exclusive vantage point overlooking Windsor Castle."

FOX

Fox's coverage of the big day will begin at 5am ET with Ainsley Earhardt broadcasting live from Windsor. Their main coverage of the wedding will start at 6am ET, and will feature Shepard Smith and Sandra Smith along with other guests.

BBC AMERICA

BBC America will be streaming coverage and commentary of the event on May 19.

ABC

Good Morning America will be starting their coverage at 5am ET on ABC. 20/20 will also provide coverage of the royal wedding with primetime specials on Friday at 10pm ET and Saturday at 10pm ET.

E!

"E! Live From the Royal Wedding" with hosts Giuliana Rancic, Brad Goreski, Sarah-Jane Crawford, and royal expert Melanie Bromley will start at 5am ET on May 19. The channel will also have programming like

“The Real Princess Diaries: From Diana to Meghan" scheduled in the weeks leading up to the wedding, and are airing a "Royal Wedding Rundown" on Saturday evening, to recap the historic event right after it happens.

How and where to watch the royal wedding if you're in the UK

Where to celebrate in America

Los Angeles

In LA, where Thomas Markle Snr lived until 2011, British pubs across the city are advertising their “slumber parties” for the 4am-local-time ceremony, with the Cat and Fiddle in Hollywood suggesting revellers come in their pyjamas and fascinators – described helpfully by the LA Times as “the precarious and ostentatious ladies' headgear constructed for such special events.”

On the day of the wedding itself, Mr Howells will host around 150 people at the consulate for an afternoon tea, with guest invited from across the LA area representing some of the charities the couple are known to support – veterans’ organisations, childrens’ charities and LGBTQ concerns.

It will be 11pm in Windsor when Mr Howells’ guests arrive, but at Ms Markle’s former secondary school they couldn’t wait – and had to see the ceremony live.

Girls currently studying at Immaculate Heart, a private Catholic day school in Hollywood, are planning to gather in the school to watch the 4am events as they happen.

Ms Markle studied at the school from 11 to 18, leaving in 1999.

Shea Sprague, 17, said their classrooms were abuzz when the news of the engagement was made public.

“This school raised a princess,” she told The Telegraph, to laughter from her friends.

Mia Speier, 17, added: “She’s made such a difference – not just as an actress, but also as an activist, a UN ambassador – it’s really inspirational.

“She’s poised and well spoken. Even if she didn’t come from royalty, she’s ready.”

The girls said they knew they couldn’t miss the live ceremony – even before the timing was announced.

“Even if it’s in the middle of the night,” said Miss Sprague. “We’ll be watching with a cup of tea.”

Chicago

On leaving high school Ms Markle attended Northwestern University in Chicago – a place the Prince’s mother visited in 1996.

On the eve of the wedding the university plans a talk about the history of the royal family, exploring their evolution with an afternoon tea entitled: The British monarchy: then and now.

Washington DC

The nation’s capital is celebrating at a royal wedding pop-up bar, which has opened in Washington DC for two weeks.

On the day of the wedding the bar will be open from 6:30am for customers to view watch the wedding from big projectors with a full catered breakfast, and all proceeds going to Prince Harry's Invictus Games Foundation.

“It’s hard not to get swept up in the romance of a royal wedding, especially when it involves a modern, real-life fairy tale,” said Angie Fetherston, CEO of Drink Company, which owns the bar.

“I’ve been a superfan of the Royals since I was a kid and knew as soon as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were engaged that we had to bring a slice of their day to all of the fans who want to experience a little bit of the fantasy - fascinators and all.”

Inside the bar the interior of St. George’s Chapel has been recreated, with hand-carved replicas of the wedding venue’s vaulted ceiling and columns.

Patrons can sip on cocktails including the Kensington Garden Party and the Markle Sparkle, or opt for God Save the Queen - a classic martini with gin and dry vermouth, served with a souvenir crown.

The British embassy in Washington is delivering handwritten notes from visitors to the bar to Kensington Palace, and have leant the bar a statue of a Beefeater, along with a Royal Mailbox.

New York City

In New York, too, preparations have been afoot for the big day.

Last week eight corgis were bounding through Herald Square in central Manhattan, to promote a television drama portraying their courtship.

Introduced by name, Meghan the corgi was the star of the show in a white wedding dress and tiara, while Prince Harry wore his ceremonial blues. “Duchess Kate” was in a blue dress and feathered hat and her “children,” “Prince George” and “Princess Charlotte” were in a blue tie and a pink dress, respectively. “Queen Elizabeth II” was suitably regal in a bejewelled crown and cape.

The show, Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, aired on Sunday - the night after CNN show their documentary on the couple.

Humans wishing to emulate the pair, meanwhile, can book the Conrad Hotel’s “Propose like a Prince” package – two nights in their Conrad suite, a helicopter tour of the city, and a private consultation with the London Jewellers, based in TriBeCa, who are offering an exact replica of Ms Markle’s engagement ring.

“We’ve had a lot of interest in this – so much so that it’s been extended until the end of summer,” said Vildana Kurtovic, assistant marketing manager for the hotel.

“I’m a huge fan of the Royal family, and we just wanted to embrace and celebrate them in a big way.”

She admits, however, that despite the interest no one has actually taken the plunge – the $10,000 price tag perhaps having something to do with it.

In the run up to the wedding, Mrs Chertoff, the wedding and Royal expert, has been hosting etiquette talks at the Downton Abbey exhibition in midtown Manhattan.

Royal wedding PREMIUM GRID

Inside the formal dining room of the Crawley family, tourists and New Yorkers are manners fit for a princess – how to curtsey, how to sit, how to approach a Royal dining table.

“It’s kind of a history lesson, but also useful for modern life,” said Mrs Chertoff. “Millennials are especially interested, because they perhaps don’t have formal dining at home.

“We have a nice mix of ages coming along, and I think people have a renewed fascination thanks to The Crown – I get asked a lot of questions about her tiara, and the line of succession.

“There are few things that can bring a country together like a Royal wedding.”