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CNN Live Today
Late Queen Mother in State
Aired April 05, 2002 - 10:18 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: The body of Britain's beloved queen mother lies in state at Westminster Hall in London. Mourners lined the streets today as a military procession moved the queen mother's coffin from Saint James's Palace.
Our Robin Oakley is covering the farewell ceremonies, and joins us now from London -- Robin, hello.
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn. It has been a very colorful and impressive ceremony today, this moving of the coffin of the queen mother, Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother, from the chapel royal of Saint James's Palace now to lie in state at Westminster Hall, close to the House of Commons.
Many thousands out on the streets to say goodbye, in many cases, to somebody who brought a new warmth to the British monarchy and who actually invented the royal walk-about in her time. It was a very moving ceremony with three generations of the royal family moving behind the gun carriage drawn by the royal horse artillery on which the coffin lay with Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother's crown that she had worn at the coronation of her husband. And Prince Charles was there, his sons, Prince Harry and William. And unusually, Princess Ann, the princess royal, because women haven't usually taken part in ceremonies of this kind.
The coffin was taken to Westminster Hall, where the queen was waiting to welcome the arrival of the official procession. And the coffin will now lie in state with members of the public able to file past and pay their respects over the next three days until the state funeral on Tuesday of Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother.
And it has to be said, there seems to be a tremendous desire for people to pay their respects. The cues to get into the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Hall to do so, now stretch back along both sides of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for at least a mile, and many, many people are clearly keen to come in and pay their respects before that funeral Tuesday -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Robin, I am thinking of some of the royal ceremonies that we are familiar with over the last 20 years or so, the wedding of Charles and Diana, Diana's funeral five years ago. How, in terms of pomp and circumstance, will this funeral on Tuesday compare in terms of size and drama and pageantry? OAKLEY: Well, this will be one of the biggest ceremonials we have ever seen for a funeral in this country, perhaps the biggest event since the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, the wartime prime minister leader, in 1965, or the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother's husband, King George VI 50 years ago, when there was a tremendous turn out. Of course, there was a different kind of funeral for Diana, Princess of Wales, when she died. There was more obvious public shock and dismay and sorrow perhaps on that occasion, because it was such a shock event, the death of a young mother.
This is partly an event, which has a celebratory element to it, celebrating the life of a woman of 101, who had a particular popularity with the British public for the way in which she helped to lead the nation in time of war. Particularly I think people remember how when Buckingham Palace was bombed during the last World War, she said I can now look to the people of the east end, one of the poorer districts of London, in the face, meaning that she had now shared their experience. And she, of course, refused to send her two daughters away from London during the war. She said, the girls won't go without me, I won't go without the king and the king won't leave.
So she did create a special bond in wartime, and that is not forgotten, and it will be reflected in a huge funeral ceremony for her on Tuesday -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Much beloved, and what an incredible life, as you mentioned, spanning 101 years. Robin Oakley, thank you for that report -- appreciate that very much.
In the next hour, we are going to have a chance to talk more about this. I'll be talking with royal watcher, Andrew Roberts, about today's ceremonies for the queen mother. Roberts is a columnist and contributor for two leading British papers, and he will be along to talk about this historic day and also look forward to Tuesday, and that will give us more, picking up where Robin left off there.
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