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CNN Live At Daybreak
Queen's Golden Jubilee Parade Procession to St. Paul's Cathedral
Aired June 04, 2002 - 06:16 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: And right now I think we want to go back live to London, do we? Yes, we do.
As we watch the procession in the City of London as the Queen slowly makes her way to St. Paul's Cathedral. As you can see, people are lining the streets with an outpouring of patriotism in England as that golden carriage rides on by. You can see the Queen inside, dressed nattily in blue with her pearls -- her trademark pearls.
Earlier her family left in two other carriages. Prince William and Harry and Prince Charles were aboard that carriage.
And Richard Quest is now sitting down so I'm going to turn this over to him because he knows much more about it than I, and has a much more exciting take I'm sure.
Richard, hi.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh hello.
Well, the Queen is now well and truly on her way from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral.
And, Carol, you are basically going to have to shut me up as I wax lyrical about all of this because what you're looking at is the State Gold Coach. It was built for George III back in the -- in 1762. Your country was -- well need I say more on that score. But it was George III -- it was George III who, of course, is of great importance to your country. It was the coach that he...
COSTELLO: Yes, I believe we did a number on King George.
QUEST: Well, this is his coach. And I'm told by those who have seen it, it's very uncomfortable. In fact, Queen Victoria didn't like to ride in it. She said it was distressingly oscillating in the way it moved up and down.
What you'll notice is that the front wheels are smaller than the back. It was designed to mimic a Roman chariot. And the pictures on the side were painted. They were designed to show Britain's greatness back in the 1760s.
To put it in perspective, back in the 1760s, this coach with its murals and its friseurs (ph) and its gold trim cost $10,000. Now...
COSTELLO: Wow!
QUEST: ... I'm sure some bright spark can do the conversion and work out what that would have been in today's money. But I suspect it's a considerable amount and more than you and I earn put together...
COSTELLO: Oh yes.
QUEST: ... with a zero on it...
COSTELLO: Hey, Richard, I was wondering...
QUEST: Look at the...
COSTELLO: Richard, I was wondering about something, how much is this costing England and who is paying for it?
QUEST: Oh, well the bill for this will be in the millions, although don't forget all this stuff is already there. I mean they didn't buy it in for the occasion. It's all there. We're talking about millions, and the bill will be picked up by the British government. Simple as that, but you can quantify it because of the tourism costs.
I'll give you an example, Carol, last -- the two concerts at the palace are said to have cost $4.5 million. Some of that has been recouped by the sale of rights.
And there you see, I assume you're looking at the same time as I am, St. Paul's Cathedral as the coach makes it way up through Fleet Street.
And what we -- what you missed, although I'll talk you through what we saw, at one particular point, Carol, the coach had to stop so that the Queen could be given permission to enter that part of London known as the City of London because normally the Lord Mayor of London holds precedence there and a pearl sword. And there we see the Lord Mayor of London and the pearl sword. The pearl sword was handed to the Queen. She handed it back to the Lord Mayor and the whole thing can go ahead at St. Paul's Cathedral, what you're -- which is what you're looking at now.
Carol, I warn you about this, I can have distressing amounts of facts on this because this is, you know, what goes...
COSTELLO: No, we're enjoying it. We're enjoying it.
QUEST: Now...
COSTELLO: What are they going to do at St. Paul's Cathedral? What's going to happen there?
QUEST: At St. Paul's Cathedral, where the Queen is now just arriving, there will be a service of thanksgiving. It will be a fiesta of music, of choral singing and of prayers to give thanks. It will also have a certain ecumenical spirit about it because obviously the various other faiths to some extent will be involved.
Well over a million people are lining the procession route. And what the palace, along with the government, have done is mix and match the old, the processions, with the new, the pop concerts.
COSTELLO: Yes.
QUEST: The old, the classical concert, the new, the parade this afternoon.
Carol, I'm going to leave it there because I will just keep going.
COSTELLO: I know you will, Richard, but we have enjoyed you this morning. Thank you so much for joining us live on DAYBREAK as we watch the Queen's beautiful carriage make her way to -- make its way to St. Paul's Cathedral.
Thank you, Richard Quest.
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