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CNN Live At Daybreak

Queen Mother Passes Away at 101

Aired April 01, 2002 - 06:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Gun salutes will be heard across Britain as the nation begins official mourning for the Queen Mother. The 101-year-old royal matriarch died in her sleep on Saturday with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth, at her bedside.

In London now is royal historian, Andrew Roberts, author of "The Royal House of Windsor" and columnist for the Sunday and daily "Telegraph" newspapers. Andrew joins me from outside of Buckingham Palace.

You saw some of the salutes going off this morning. We want to go back to those live pictures. What else will happen today?

ANDREW ROBERTS, ROYAL HISTORIAN: Well, we have also had a march past of some guards outside Buckingham Palace behind me here, but it was really the 40 gun salutes that were most impressive. They took place in Edinburgh and also here in London in High Park.

COSTELLO: And the royal family has had a private ceremony already, right?

ROBERTS: That's right. Their ceremony took place in Windsor, where the queen mother died and where the whole of the family has congregated prior to coming here to London for the funeral.

COSTELLO: And what will that be like?

ROBERTS: I'm sorry?

COSTELLO: What will that be like, the funeral, for just the English population?

ROBERTS: Well, it's going to be in two parts really. There is going to be a procession from St. James' Palace, where her body will be laid and to Westminster Hall, which is an ancient medieval structure next to the House of Commons. She is going to lie in state, where the British people are going to be able to go past and pay their last respects to her. That will take three days from dawn until dusk traditionally, but if there are lots of people, it will be extended, the hours.

And then after that there will be a full funeral, full royal funeral, which for a former queen is the most tremendously grand affair, foreign dignitaries and ambassadors of course, but also all of the politicians, the senior and substantial members of the British aristocracy, the whole royal family. And it will also be a musical -- fantastic musical extravaganza as well. I think it will be the best that Britain can put on in terms of pomp and circumstance.

COSTELLO: Yes, it sounds like a celebration of her life. Can you tell us about the queen mother's legacy?

ROBERTS: Well, I think her legacy really is one of duty and tradition and decency. Those are the things that she stood for, and those are the things that she fought for throughout her life. Decency in particular, and the way, of course, that she stood up against totalitarianism at the time of the Second World War. That to me is her most endearing legacy to have come through, but she is a tremendous believer in Britain, as well. Of course, she was the last empress of the British Empire, and she had a way in which she could touch people's lives very naturally and an infinity of charm. And I think that's what she will be remembered for principally.

COSTELLO: She was quite charming, and she certainly did create an image for herself. I mean, you always saw her in a hat, and she was always dressed in pastels, and you know she meant that.

ROBERTS: She did, and she had Fabi Amos (ph) and Norman Hartnell, I think were her dress designers, and she also had very strong views on her own dress sense. She didn't naturally have the figure to look elegant, but she always managed to, and I think that that's something that is very much to her credit.

COSTELLO: A lot of women can relate to that. Thank you -- Andrew Roberts reporting live for us from London outside of Buckingham Palace this morning.

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