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CNN Live At Daybreak
Royal Family Faces What Some Say Could be End of Monarchy
Aired November 13, 2002 - 05:31 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: To London again to see the queen. It's stiff upper lip time as the royal family faces what some say could be the end of the monarchy. The reason, because of allegations of a rape and cover-up. All of this coming as Queen Elizabeth makes her annual address to parliament.
And as I said, CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has been covering all this for us.
Now he's joining us with the latest -- hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Catherine.
Well, this, of course, is the day of the state opening of parliament, where the queen comes to parliament to open it. This is, perhaps, one of those days where the queen is looked to by her subjects as, in one of her more dignified roles. And it is, of course, one of the reasons why Prince Charles's office yesterday decided to announce its inquiry, an internal inquiry, in an attempt to draw a line under all the salacious rumors, accusations and allegations that have been going on in the British tabloids here over the last couple of weeks following the collapse of Paul Burrell's theft trial.
The internal inquiry has raised some questions in the British media here, whether or not it's going to be, whether or not such an internal inquiry will be enough to satisfy public opinion here, that it provides enough transparency for people to believe that these allegations are being properly dealt with.
But what the queen will be coming here to do today is to announce, to open parliament and to put forward a speech which will indicate some of the areas that the government here and parliament will be dealing with over the next year.
I'm joined by royal author Robert Jobson.
He is an expert on the monarchy and an expert, also, on what we can expect today in parliament.
What will we see here today?
ROBERT JOBSON, CNN ROYAL ANALYST: You will see the queen behaving exactly how she has done for the last 50 years. She will simply read out what the government bills are for the next forthcoming session of parliament, and she will do that with aplomb, I should imagine. You'll see no emotion from her and she'll rise above all of the controversy that is surrounding the royal family and the monarchy at the moment.
ROBERTSON: Now, we know that some Labor M.P.s here have already criticized this independent inquiry. They will be in this house today. What will be going through their minds?
JOBSON: A lot will be going through their minds, but nothing will be coming out of their mouths. They will simply watch the ceremony and they have been leant on heavily, I'm sure, by the Labor prime minister, Tony Blair, to make sure that everything remains dignified. As Walter Bashiat (ph) said, this is the most dignified part of the British constitution.
But as we are seeing at the moment, what is going on is far from dignified. There is a need, I think, for an independent inquiry. And it's interesting that Sir Michael Peat, Prince Charles's private secretary, has been tasked with carrying out the internal inquiries yet he hasn't ruled out the fact that there may still be an independent inquiry.
ROBERTSON: Take us through the events that we'll see today. Right now people are filing into the House of Lords. How will events proceed today?
JOBSON: It's a very wonderful occasion. I think that it actually gets what the monarchy does very well. There will be a series -- a long procession with the queen at its head. There will be the, a man walking backwards in front of her. The Marcus of Chamley (ph) will be doing that. It's a real regal procession.
She will go into the House of Lords, where she will take up her position at the throne there. And then black rod will come to the House of Lords from the House of Common sense and bang on the door and only then will the members of parliament be allowed into the House of Lords.
The queen, by the way, is not allowed into the House of Commons. That's something dating back many, many years. So they treasure their independence there.
ROBERTSON: A very somber and solemn day, as well. She sits on the throne and addresses through parliament her subjects.
JOBSON: Absolutely. But it's a tradition. I think this is what Britain does best. We saw the success of the Jubilee was based on tradition. And I think that's what is needed right now, is to get back to what the monarchy does best. Clearly, what Sir Michael Peat wanted to do yesterday was to try and draw a line under all of this, these allegations and this travesty in time for the state opening of parliament and the big party to celebrate the Jubilee.
I'm afraid I don't think it's going to be good enough.
ROBERTSON: What, when you say this isn't going to be good enough, is the monarchy flawed here now?
JOBSON: I think the monarchy is going to be under the, there's going to be a forensic eye on the monarchy at the moment. There will be questions asked by M.P.s as soon as they get on with the real business of parliament. And I don't think that that will stop the very fact that the queen has just opened parliament with all this dignity and all this tradition. As soon as she's left and they're back to the business of debating in that chamber, these questions will be raised, questions about money, questions about cover-ups. These will be raised by M.P.s. And I don't think the royal family will be able to get away with it in terms of just allowing this thing to be dealt with internally.
Eventually there will have to be, in my opinion, an independent inquiry.
ROBERTSON: And what changes, if any, do you expect to see in the way the monarchy runs their affairs?
JOBSON: I think basically the monarchy will have to be brought kicking and screaming into the 21st century. I think Prince Charles has done his best to modernize the monarchy and this man, Sir Michael Peat, who's been drafted in to run his office, is very much a forward thinking courtier. And I think this is the signal, this is the pivotal moment when the monarchy will have to start, I think, being more modernist and less traditionalist.
ROBERTSON: Robert, thank you very much, indeed.
JOBSON: Thank you.
ROBERTSON: Catherine, so not over yet for the monarchy and perhaps they're being brought into the 21st century. We'll wait and see -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, Nic, and we'll be back with you a little bit later when the queen arrives.
Thank you very much.
That's Nic Robertson.
And AMERICAN MORNING with Paula Zahn takes yup this royal mess at 8:30 Eastern time when she is joined by Trevor McDonald. He is a news anchor with the U.K.'s ITN Network.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 13, 2002 - 05:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: To London again to see the queen. It's stiff upper lip time as the royal family faces what some say could be the end of the monarchy. The reason, because of allegations of a rape and cover-up. All of this coming as Queen Elizabeth makes her annual address to parliament.
And as I said, CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has been covering all this for us.
Now he's joining us with the latest -- hello, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Catherine.
Well, this, of course, is the day of the state opening of parliament, where the queen comes to parliament to open it. This is, perhaps, one of those days where the queen is looked to by her subjects as, in one of her more dignified roles. And it is, of course, one of the reasons why Prince Charles's office yesterday decided to announce its inquiry, an internal inquiry, in an attempt to draw a line under all the salacious rumors, accusations and allegations that have been going on in the British tabloids here over the last couple of weeks following the collapse of Paul Burrell's theft trial.
The internal inquiry has raised some questions in the British media here, whether or not it's going to be, whether or not such an internal inquiry will be enough to satisfy public opinion here, that it provides enough transparency for people to believe that these allegations are being properly dealt with.
But what the queen will be coming here to do today is to announce, to open parliament and to put forward a speech which will indicate some of the areas that the government here and parliament will be dealing with over the next year.
I'm joined by royal author Robert Jobson.
He is an expert on the monarchy and an expert, also, on what we can expect today in parliament.
What will we see here today?
ROBERT JOBSON, CNN ROYAL ANALYST: You will see the queen behaving exactly how she has done for the last 50 years. She will simply read out what the government bills are for the next forthcoming session of parliament, and she will do that with aplomb, I should imagine. You'll see no emotion from her and she'll rise above all of the controversy that is surrounding the royal family and the monarchy at the moment.
ROBERTSON: Now, we know that some Labor M.P.s here have already criticized this independent inquiry. They will be in this house today. What will be going through their minds?
JOBSON: A lot will be going through their minds, but nothing will be coming out of their mouths. They will simply watch the ceremony and they have been leant on heavily, I'm sure, by the Labor prime minister, Tony Blair, to make sure that everything remains dignified. As Walter Bashiat (ph) said, this is the most dignified part of the British constitution.
But as we are seeing at the moment, what is going on is far from dignified. There is a need, I think, for an independent inquiry. And it's interesting that Sir Michael Peat, Prince Charles's private secretary, has been tasked with carrying out the internal inquiries yet he hasn't ruled out the fact that there may still be an independent inquiry.
ROBERTSON: Take us through the events that we'll see today. Right now people are filing into the House of Lords. How will events proceed today?
JOBSON: It's a very wonderful occasion. I think that it actually gets what the monarchy does very well. There will be a series -- a long procession with the queen at its head. There will be the, a man walking backwards in front of her. The Marcus of Chamley (ph) will be doing that. It's a real regal procession.
She will go into the House of Lords, where she will take up her position at the throne there. And then black rod will come to the House of Lords from the House of Common sense and bang on the door and only then will the members of parliament be allowed into the House of Lords.
The queen, by the way, is not allowed into the House of Commons. That's something dating back many, many years. So they treasure their independence there.
ROBERTSON: A very somber and solemn day, as well. She sits on the throne and addresses through parliament her subjects.
JOBSON: Absolutely. But it's a tradition. I think this is what Britain does best. We saw the success of the Jubilee was based on tradition. And I think that's what is needed right now, is to get back to what the monarchy does best. Clearly, what Sir Michael Peat wanted to do yesterday was to try and draw a line under all of this, these allegations and this travesty in time for the state opening of parliament and the big party to celebrate the Jubilee.
I'm afraid I don't think it's going to be good enough.
ROBERTSON: What, when you say this isn't going to be good enough, is the monarchy flawed here now?
JOBSON: I think the monarchy is going to be under the, there's going to be a forensic eye on the monarchy at the moment. There will be questions asked by M.P.s as soon as they get on with the real business of parliament. And I don't think that that will stop the very fact that the queen has just opened parliament with all this dignity and all this tradition. As soon as she's left and they're back to the business of debating in that chamber, these questions will be raised, questions about money, questions about cover-ups. These will be raised by M.P.s. And I don't think the royal family will be able to get away with it in terms of just allowing this thing to be dealt with internally.
Eventually there will have to be, in my opinion, an independent inquiry.
ROBERTSON: And what changes, if any, do you expect to see in the way the monarchy runs their affairs?
JOBSON: I think basically the monarchy will have to be brought kicking and screaming into the 21st century. I think Prince Charles has done his best to modernize the monarchy and this man, Sir Michael Peat, who's been drafted in to run his office, is very much a forward thinking courtier. And I think this is the signal, this is the pivotal moment when the monarchy will have to start, I think, being more modernist and less traditionalist.
ROBERTSON: Robert, thank you very much, indeed.
JOBSON: Thank you.
ROBERTSON: Catherine, so not over yet for the monarchy and perhaps they're being brought into the 21st century. We'll wait and see -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, Nic, and we'll be back with you a little bit later when the queen arrives.
Thank you very much.
That's Nic Robertson.
And AMERICAN MORNING with Paula Zahn takes yup this royal mess at 8:30 Eastern time when she is joined by Trevor McDonald. He is a news anchor with the U.K.'s ITN Network.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
