Organisers of Prince William and Prince Harry’s memorial concert for their mother could have sold more tickets but left it too late, it has emerged.

Princes William and Harry at Concert for Diana: Princes mark life of Diana with music
Princes William and Harry wanted to celebrate their mother's life by hosting 'the best birthday party ever'

The terror threat and forecast for bad weather also meant hundreds who had bought tickets did not actually turn up, contributing to the number of visibly empty seats on what was billed a sell-out event.

In all 63,000 tickets for the marathon musical medley on Sunday were sold in advance, the overwhelming majority with unrestricted view at the full price of £45.

But sources said that once the huge stage had been erected on Thursday, it was evident that organisers had over-estimated the number of seats that would have their view blocked by production, lighting and sound equipment, and up 3,000 tickets were put up for sale on the web at the last minute, but failed to sell because it was too late in the day.

Some areas of the stadium had been left deliberately empty, including the two main areas of seating next to the stage itself from where it was impossible to see, and a large block at the back, where the view was blocked by production equipment.
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Two corner areas at the back were also initially left empty because it was originally thought their view would be obscured by lighting towers.

One source said: “Once the stage was built and all the equipment was in place it was clear there were going to be more places available than first thought”.

A Clarence House spokesman agreed that the terror threat and predicted weather meant some people did not turn up.

“But that was a very small number,” he said. “Some of the empty seats that could be seen were deliberately empty because they had restricted views. Those were put up for sale on the website late in the day, but it was hundreds, not thousands”.

“You have to remember no stage of this scale had been built at Wembley before. The exact features were down to the wire. We sold all the available full view seats. Only those with a restricted view were left”.

He added: “Some of the empty seats that were seen were not empty at all, but were in front of the boxes. People were enjoying the concert from inside their boxes instead of in their seats”.

The concert, shown live on BBC One was a runaway ratings hit attracting a peak audience of nearly 15 million TV viewers in Britain alone.

Figures for global TV audience were not available, but it was expected to attract more than 100 million world wide.

The show, which featured acts as diverse as Duran Duran, Elton John, Lily Allen, Tom Jones, Will Young, Rod Stewart and Take That, dominated Sunday viewing from mid-afternoon until late evening.

The audience peaked towards the end of the concert, with 14.8 million viewers and a huge 60% share in the quarter hour from 10pm on BBC1, according to unofficial overnights.

But it was not without its production difficulties. Comedian Ricky Gervais was left ad-libbing for around seven minutes when it took longer than predicted to set up for Sir Elton John’s concert finale.

“With 26 acts and all their different requests and requirements, anything can go wrong,” said one source.

Figures for how much it raised for charity were not available.

Clarence House had stressed it was not first and foremost a fund-raising event, but any proceeds left after the cost of staging such a mammoth production had been deducted would be split between several of the Princes and their mother’s favourite charities.

Telegraph.co.uk

This concert was aired in over 100 countries. Did you watch it? If so, what did you think? Which were your favourite groups, artists?