Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Parade Honors Queen Elizabeth II
Aired June 04, 2002 - 10:02 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: A half century in the making, and a few hours in the streets. Hundreds of thousands of Brits have lined the streets of London and they lavished pageantry, as we show you these live pictures, which celebrate Queen Elizabeth's 50 years on the throne. Just look at those flags waving, and all the colors there.
Our Christiane Amanpour is our royal watcher this morning, and she is there to view our thrill (ph) and tell us more.
Christiane, hello to you.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Daryn, as you said, this is the fourth and final day of this long Golden Jubilee weekend. This is the day formally that does celebrate the queen's 50 years on the throne here.
As we have been saying, she is only the fifth monarch in a 1,000- year long British Monarchy to have reach 50 years on the throne, and all the stops are being pulled out for this celebration, and it really is one that is totally cognizant of the fact that it is the 21st century. The monarchy may be an old tradition, but this is a very vibrant and youthful celebration. We have just had the Knotting Hill carnival do its hour-long parade. It is one of the biggest carnivals in the world, after the one in Rio.
And now, it is the Chicken Shed Theater Ensemble which is coming down the Mall, just as it's on its way to Buckingham palace. And this is made up of youths. Basically, it is a youth outreach group that encompasses many British youths, and they are here to sing a song, the whole anthem -- it is about the future, about inclusiveness, and much of this celebration has been aimed at showing the diversity of British culture and British ethnicity today.
There has been so many of the pageants and parades that have highlighted the Caribbean flavor of the British population here. We have had members of the Indian and Pakistani groups here, and we have also obviously had Great British tradition before.
Before this afternoon's parade, it was a display of the pomp and circumstance, the real tradition of the British monarchy that world has gotten to know. When Queen Elizabeth left this morning, she left Buckingham palace in the gold-stage coach. She went with her husband, the duke of Edinburgh, for a special Thanksgiving ceremony and service at St. Paul's cathedral in the heart of the city of London. After that, they went to the Guildhall, which is formerly where the lord mayor of London sits, and the queen made a short toast, a short speech of gratitude. It was quite moving. She started with a bit of a joke, recognizing the fact that quite a lot of celebration was going on around the British being in the World Cup and their first match, but she said, specifically, that she felt enormous gratitude, pride and respect for the people of Britain and all over the Commonwealth, and she felt that the 50 years that she had been on the throne, she said, had been one of enormous change, and enormous circumstance here in England.
In a very moving tribute to her, Tony Blair, the prime minister, spoke of the deep affection and the genuine affection that the British people show for the queen, no matter how much, perhaps, the royal family itself has come under criticism, her children, some of her relatives, the queen has always been an object of affection here, and Prime Minister Blair highlighted that, and said, really, the essence of this 50-year anniversary celebration is to pay tribute to a super quality he said that she had, and that was the rare quality of commitment. A life dedicated and committed to the British people, a life full of duty and dignity.
So we are going to also be hearing from gospel choirs later this afternoon. The queen is due here in about a half an hour. She will take her place with her son and other members of the royal family, who are sitting on a special diet in front of the Queen Victoria memorial, and, of course, her great grandmother, Queen Victoria was the last monarch who not only reached 50 years on the throne, but 60 years. She had her diamond jubilee in 1897.
That is it from here, now -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And so I guess Queen Victoria sets the bar there. Christiane, you mentioned Prince Charles, and we saw the other princes, Harry and William as well. While you were doing that report, we saw a live picture of them as they looked on at all of the festivities. What has their role been in celebrating the queen's jubilee?
AMANPOUR: Well, mostly that of onlookers, certainly the younger royals. Prince Charles has had a couple of specific roles. Last night at the pop concert at palace, which was truly euphoric, an amazing display of the great pop and modern music that Britain has so -- so successfully exported, the culture that Britain has exported around the world. Prince Charles made a tribute to his mother there.
And then today, he was one of two royal family outriders. He and his sister, Princess Anne, rode on the horses that accompanied the state carriage, the gold carriage, to St. Paul's cathedral. But he has been, at many of these occasions, he has been participating, and witnessing, and being basically a loyal family member.
Of course, many people ask, will Charles ever be king, and the queen has made it quite clear the last time, on the anniversary of her mother's death, that she would remain queen, as she said, for very, very many years to come. So there is no thought that this queen, who is so committed to duty, would ever consider abdicating. That's what people are saying here.
KAGAN: Christiane, quickly. We are going to be asking our viewers for comments about what they would say to the queen on this special celebration. I want to turn that for you a little bit. As a journalist, if you had a sit-down interview with the queen, what would be the first question you would ask her?
AMANPOUR: Well, you know everybody would like to do that, and the queen, as far as I know, has not given any formal interviews, certainly not recently. I mean, I think what one wants to know from her is not so much sort of the pomp and circumstance, but how she has managed to cope in that sort of surreally serene fashion that has epitomized her reign over the last 50 years, with the trials and the tribulations that she has had to endure.
She herself, a couple of years ago, called 1992 or '93, I can't remember, her "annus horribilis," when everything seemed to go wrong. Well, today, not nearly a decade later, she is really able to celebrate in great style, and knowing that the British people hold her, principally, in great affection. 70 percent of the British people still say they prefer the monarchy over any republic, so I would like to know from her how she has managed to keep her cool, really, in this amazing 50 years that we have all borne witness to.
KAGAN: Well, clearly, it would be one of the hardest interviews in the world to get, but if one person would, that would be you, Christiane...
AMANPOUR: I don't know.
KAGAN: ... and I look forward to seeing that one day. Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
