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CNN Live Today

Funeral for Britain's Queen Mother April 9

Aired April 01, 2002 - 10:28   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's move on to Britain, and the royal family there saying that the funeral for the queen mother will be held in Westminster Abbey on April 9. The beloved monarch died in her sleep on Saturday at the age of 101. Her subjects have been in mourning since that announcement. Our Matthew Chance reports for us from Windsor, England.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The Windsor Castle outside the gates here still very much the focal point, not just for the royal family, but also the many hundreds, the many thousands in fact, of people that have chosen to come out here and to mark the death of the queen mother. I have to say many of the people in Windsor today, and there are several thousand are just tourists, people who may have come to Windsor regardless. This is after all Easter Monday.

Others though have taken the trouble to make the special journey here to sign the official book of condolence, which has been opened, like many others up and down the country here at Windsor Castle, leaving short messages like "You're the best mom," "rest in peace," messages of that sort.

Elsewhere in the country, there have been more formal military honors paid to the queen mother, various military platoons up and down the country, firing salutes. Part of the many formal arrangements that have been made culminating just over a week from now, next Tuesday, in the funeral ceremony for the queen mother, which will be held at Westminster Abbey.

As an interesting footnote that's been reported to us by palace officials that all of the time, people have been saying that the death of the queen mother was somewhat expected, given the fact that she was 101. But just to illustrate that, palace officials tell us the queen mom had a very integral part in planning her own funeral arrangements. They told us that that the queen mother first sat down to come up with a plan for her own funeral back in 1979. And that since then, that plan has changed a lot, again, with much input from the queen mother.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Windsor.

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