Weddings are gang-bangs says ‘ousted’ Dimbleby

The king of royal event broadcasting is dead - long live the king! David Dimbleby, the BBC's top man for pomp and circumstance events over the past quarter of a century, has been "overlooked" for anchor duties at next April's royal wedding.

Instead, the job of describing the procession and The Dress in suitably hushed tones to an anxious world falls to Welshman Huw Edwards, the Ten O'Clock News anchorman.

Dimbleby, 72, professes not to be put out, and indeed told the Times that he had no desire to take part. "I didn't expect to be involved," he said. "It'll be a big wham-bam news affair. I'm OK with it."

Dimbleby's royal broadcasts have included a Golden Jubilee - the Queen's 50th anniversary on the throne, celebrated in 2002 -  two funerals (those of Princess Diana and the Queen Mother) and - perhaps most pertinent - the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson in 1986.

The latter ended in divorce - which means "it's probably a good thing I wasn't asked," said Dimbleby. Anyway, he went on, "weddings are very frivolous. They're kind of gang-bangs. It's not really my scene. Funerals are more my thing."

Edwards, 49, is no debutant. His "training" for the royal wedding has included the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the death of one Pope (John Paul II) and the controversial visit to Britain of another (Benedict XVI), as well as the opening and closing of the Beijing Olympics.

Putting Dimbleby out to grass means the end of a dynastic tradition at the BBC. His father, Richard Dimbleby, anchored the big events of the post-war years, including the Queen's coronation and the funerals of John F Kennedy and Winston Churchill. ·