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CNN Live At Daybreak
Thousands Line Streets for Queen Mother's Funeral Procession
Aired April 05, 2002 - 06:36 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: We want to go live to London now for more on a solemn event we have been following throughout this morning, the transfer of the body of Britain's Queen Mother. Her body is now at Westminster Hall.
Our Richard Quest is standing by live -- good morning to you, Richard.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. What a difference of days, a day of celebration and a sad day as the body of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was moved from St. James' Palace to Westminster Hall.
This, of course, now starts the perhaps more informal process of lying in state, when members of the public will be able to pay their last respects and see the procession and see the coffin. Until now, it has been the royal family and close friends that have been able to view the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth.
The procession was like nothing that London has seen for many years. A grand scale, some 1,600 members of the armed forces took part as the procession carried by pallbearers of the Irish Guards, the First Battalion of the Irish Guards. It was then put on a gun carriage and ceremoniously taken through the streets of London.
Behind the coffin and the cortege was members of the royal family, close members, including the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Ann, the princess royal received special permission from the Queen. It's normally only the male members of the royal family that take part in this part of the procession, but Princess Ann, who has been a stalwart to her mother, Queen Elizabeth, in the last couple of days decided she wanted to take part and the Queen agreed.
COSTELLO: Richard?
QUEST: Also there, Prince Harry and Prince William, both of whom will have brought memories of five years ago, when they walked this very route behind the coffin and the procession of their late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
Now, the body is lying in state in Westminster Hall, where it will be viewed and open to the public for the next three to four days -- Carol. COSTELLO: I was going to ask you, how many British citizens are lining the streets to watch this ceremony?
QUEST: Interesting. Any comparisons are always made to Diana, Princess of Wales, when of course, the country did turn out in such vast numbers. What was surprising was that there were a very large -- in the tens of thousands along the route, at particular points like Parliament Square just behind me. There were many thousands of people. And the reason for this, I think, is because this was an historic moment. This was not just the passing of an era, but the Queen Mother was considered such an important part of British life. She appealed not only to her own generation who remembered the Second World War, but also to the younger generation. And I am sure -- I know, because I was in the crowds, and I heard them say -- people say, I brought my children so that at least they could say goodbye or they could be here on this day.
And what we are now waiting to find out, behind me is where the lines will start for people to go into the Palace of Westminster and the lying in state.
COSTELLO: Richard?
QUEST: So in the tens of thousands.
COSTELLO: Richard, I was wondering about something else, just this outpouring of grief, not only for the Queen Mother, but for the passing of the monarchy of old.
QUEST: There is no question. The Queen Mother was born in the reign of Queen Victoria. She went through the abdication crisis of 1937. She was never meant to be the Duchess of York. She was never meant to be Queen as such, and it was her -- it was the Queen Mother who, to some extent, rescued the monarchy.
But it will also be a lot of sadness for the current queen, Queen Elizabeth II. Only seven weeks ago, she said goodbye and buried her sister, her younger sister, Princess Margaret. Now, her mother has passed on, albeit at a 101, a great age, a great life. The queen said only yesterday in when talking to the public that the Queen Mother had lived a good life.
But nonetheless, there will be great sorrow, because of course, Carol, this is happening in the queen's jubilee year, 50 years on the throne, a happy year, a happy year of celebration. The crowds -- it was interesting, Carol, as the queen made her way back from the Westminster Hall to Buckingham Palace, the crowds applauded her, and stoically she smiled.
COSTELLO: Oh, she has seen so much pain in her life, and she has been through so much, because she lived such a long life. You have to wonder, though, if she was hurt by all this scandal in her family as it applied to her grandchildren.
QUEST: You know, the Queen Mother was very stoic on the whole question of scandal. Everything I have read about her says that she used to say -- her motto was "a smile costs nothing," and "don't worry about it, you can't do anything about it." And that I think was a lot.
She didn't approve of certain things. She didn't approve of Prince Charles girlfriend, Camilla Parker Bowles, and there certainly will be no question of Camilla taking a greater role, while the Queen Mother was alive. She didn't approve of what the younger royals often got up to in their private lives. She was a woman born of duty. The prime minister, after she died, the prime minister summed it up, "a profound sense of duty."
So, yes, Carol, I am sure there were many a raised voice in the royal palace, but she treated it all with great stoicism, and always, always believed you put your best foot forward and a smile costs nothing.
COSTELLO: We'll follow that motto ourselves. Thank you -- Richard Quest reporting live for us from London this morning. Thank you very much for your fine coverage -- we appreciate it.
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