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CNN Live Today

Britain Pays Respects to Queen Mother

Aired April 05, 2002 - 14:14   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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The world is paying respects today to the royal matriarch who inspired British fortitude through World War II and remained first in the hearts of so many of her people. The body of Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother, lies in state at Westminster Hall until her funeral Tuesday.

ITV's Bill Neely reports on today's farewell ceremony.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL NEELY, ITV REPORTER (voice-over): It was to be a massive pageant full of pomp, but it began with a simple act. Born by eight soldiers of the Royal Irish Guards, the queen mother's coffin left the queen's chapel in St. James' palace, where her body has lain for days. It was draped in her personal standard, topped with a single wreath, and surmounted by the crown she wore at the coronation of her husband, King George VI, 65 years ago.

Behind, somber and ready for a march that would not be easy for them, Princes Harry and William. It moved off to the salvos of gunners firing a royal salute, the first of 28, one for every minute of the march. The procession, led by the duke of Edinburgh, himself 80 years old, and in front, Princess Ann, who had asked the queen mother if she might walk with the men at her funeral.

Sixteen-hundred soldiers, sailors and airmen followed. This, the biggest royal procession in 40 years. Fifty years ago, this gun carriage carried the coffin of the queen mother's husband, King George VI. Just five years ago, Princes Harry and William followed their mother's coffin along the same route. They bore this march well.

By now, the procession was almost half a mile long, as the coffin passed under Horse Guards Arch, where for almost 80 years, the queen mother would stand to watch trooping the color. The spring sunshine was glorious. The silence of the crowd's profound, as the cortege neared the memorial to the dead of two world wars, and others since. This was a poignant moment.

Here, every year the queen mother paid homage to the war dead, including her own brother, Fergus, killed in 1915. And here, she made one of her final public appearances five months ago. Past Downing Street. Astonishingly, the queen mother knew 20 prime ministers.

She was also the last empress of India. Her crown encrusted with an Indian diamond, the most famous in the world. Beside it, the wreath. "In loving memory," the card reads. "Lilibet," the pet name the queen used with her mother.

Towards Westminster, the crowds swelled now by thousands of tourists. But filled by the tens of thousands, for whom she was simply the Queen Mum. The procession had taken exactly 29 minutes, bang on time. She had helped to plan it, and it had been to the second, exactly as she would have wanted it. Bill Neely, ITV News.

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