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CNN Live At Daybreak

Fire at Buckingham Palace Coincides with Jubilee Celebration

Aired June 03, 2002 - 06:12   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: Although it was a hot weekend at Buckingham Palace, but that hot I was talking about had nothing to do with the Queen's celebration of 50 years on the throne, oh no.

Simon Perry has the scoop on that. He is our special guest this morning.

Good morning to you.

SIMON PERRY, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: Morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: There was a fire at Buckingham Palace, right, were you there for it?

PERRY: I wasn't, but we tracked down all the details over the following hour or so. It took about an hour and a half to put out and was immediately brought up these terrible images of the Windsor Castle fire, of course, of 10 years ago. So thankfully it didn't get as bad as that, and the show goes on this evening, which is good news.

COSTELLO: There were rehearsals going on there. I understand it had to be evacuated. People like Phil Collins were actually rehearsing when the firefighters moved in and cleared them out?

PERRY: Yes, and Brian May from Queen and Joe Cocker, I think. They were all removed to a tennis court area, I think, just behind the Palace there. And among the technicians and journalists and all sorts of other people that were involved in the rehearsals and the warm-ups tonight's show were all in one place. It must have been quite a surreal moment for all this mingling of celebrity and ordinary folk as it were.

COSTELLO: Definitely. You know when you think of the Queen, you really don't think of performers like Phil Collins or Ozzy Osbourne is actually going to play for the Jubilee?

PERRY: Yes, he is, yes. It's an usual departure but one that's caught the imagination I think here in Britain and right around the world where the show is going to be broadcast, of course into America as well. And it's very, very, as I say, unique show, which started over the weekend with a classical concert and yesterday we had a bit of a sort of a more reflective day where there was a lot of church services. The Royal Family, including Princes William and Harry, at churches around the country saying thanks for the 50 years of the Queen's reign. And then today we then have a bit more populous, should we say, touch with the -- with the pop concert.

COSTELLO: Is this sort of the Queen's way of getting young people in England on board?

PERRY: I think this sort of thing helps. I mean there's 12,000 people here tonight and a million plus people tried to get into the concert through a lottery, and that includes young people, you know, kids as young as nine I was speaking to yesterday caught up with the whole thing. I was down in Swansea where Princes William and Harry and Prince Charles were. So it seems to have -- to have taken in families and sort of more, should we say, older folk as well right through the spectrum.

COSTELLO: I know you gave us those numbers, is that considered a very large crowd for the Queen's Jubilee or were they hoping for more?

PERRY: Sorry, the 12,000 you mean?

COSTELLO: Yes, the people attending the Jubilee, because a lot of people head out of London at this time of year because the weather's not so great.

PERRY: Yes, yes. There's been a lot of people out of London, but a lot of people have come in. You know it's sort of -- it's probably balanced out. Around the streets of Britain where she's been doing a tour for the last month or two, there's been a very healthy crowds of 30,000 I think on the first day down in the West Country, and it seems to have caught the imagination.

I think in there as well is the sympathy that a lot of people feel for her at the moment with the -- with her mother, the Queen Mother, dying and her sister, Princess Margaret, earlier in the year of course. So it's sort of a respectful tribute mixed in with a sympathetic one as well. People want to sort of show their support for her I think in some ways.

COSTELLO: All right, Simon Perry from "People" magazine, thanks for joining us live from London this morning. We appreciate it.

PERRY: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thanks.

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